Dogs of War
by PunkMermaid
Summary: In a world where the Relay 314 war led to the enslavement of humans to the turian empire, a jaded turian commander and young human slave must join forces to save the galaxy.
1. The Allies

_In 2157 The humans began the first contact war by activating Relay 314. The war may have been chalked up to an incident based on misunderstanding, but humanity refused to negotiate. By the time the council had intervened an incident had turned into full scale war between humanity, and a far more technologically superior Turian empire. Still, humanity stayed in the dogfight for five years. It was the battle of New York, in which Commander Garrus Vakarian established his reputation, that decided the final fate of humanity, and they were subjugated under the rule of the Turian empire. In exchange for their aid in ending the war, mercenary groups were offered certain human subjects, to bolster their numbers. The battle of New York led to a massive loss of human life, as did the war as a whole. However, the ultimate result of galactic peace made the total costs to both sides worthwhile. The last known human colony in existence was eliminated a mere five years after first contact was made._

_-A Turian Citizen's Guide To Modern Warfare (Educational Edition) _

_If you were to ask me, the human species is entirely beyond hope. There is an inordinate amount of disorder; humans with no allegiance are common. Lying, turn coating, and otherwise traitorous behaviors are the norm. Look at their planet- They've nearly destroyed themselves! How can we make peace with these people? _

_If you ask me the human race deserves worse than subjugation; They deserve annihilation. We are being merciful. In a certain light, we are even their liberators._

_-General Haimus, 2159_

_They are prone to lying cheating and manipulation. Physically they are a robust species, but mentally it is doubtful they will ever match turians either in ethics or intelligence. They are suitable enough soldiers, but not fit for command. Humanity is not a species of leaders. Much like the Krogan, they are a tool in the hands of more capable species. In a few hundred years of turian leadership, we may see a change. This can only be accomplished by a total and complete breakdown of human culture. They must be absorbed and assimilated, and, until that process is complete, equality is nothing but a dream for them. Even the most basic citizenship is beyond them. _

_ -The Private Correspondence of Pimarch Fulius, 2160_

**New Terra Nova, 2182**

It was nine in the morning when Stephen Neilson came to work. The streets were full of activity. There was always work to be done on New Terra Nova. It was, after all the only hope of humanity. Men and women operated vehicles, building new huts, and buildings. New Terra Nova was nothing if not a growing community. Nielson encouraged citizens to reproduce as quickly as possible, and refugees still arrived sometimes, though that had lessened as the turians tightened their collective grip around humanities neck.

Factories sent steam up to the sky as they created vehicles, explosives, and ammunition. All the tools needed to create a war. And war was coming. Nielson only had to figure out how best to attack.

Nielson had arrived in asari space with but a handful of terrified colony dwellers, he had picked up from the burning remains of their homelands. The Asari had extended the offer of a planet within their space in hopes that a peace agreement would be reached and humanity could return home. Over the two years of the war, however, it became apparent that the result would be subjugation, not treaty. New humans were escaping and arriving by the day. The loan eventually turned into a show of human support by the asari. Even as the war resolved and humanity toiled under turian whips, the gift remained.

Stephen Neilson prided himself on this little area of human control. He had taken them from a few frightened humans to a bustling colony and soon they would become an army.

Today, however, Neilson was not happy. He tapped his fingers on the windowsill, before rotating his chair around to face the visitor.

"We have allies," he said deliberately, "We have an entire Asari faction that sees the evil of what humanity has faced and overcome. We have salarians who have helped us overcome the technological challenges of starting from scratch. We even have batarian allies, who would help us if only to spite the turians. What makes you think we can't win?"

He had been over this a dozen times with Matriarch Benezia and both of their tempers were short."You have allies, but how deep does their allegiance run? Your allies hang by a thread. The Asari will sever their support to avoid a war. The turians will not free humanity without a fight. You are but one outpost-the only outpost- of human resistance. I advise patience. Build your forces, and as you grow, your people will come home to you."

"No." Neilson sneered, "I've had enough patience. I watched turians kill my family and friends, my wife, my child." The last word choed in the room. "I've no time for your patience. Did you really travel all of this way to propose we wait?"

"No."

"Then why would you arrive unannounced only to remind me we do not have the power necessary to re-gain our empire."

"Because," Benezia said, "I have another solution. But it is rash, it will not be easy, and it will require asacrifice beyond what has ever been asked of you." Nielson looked up and raised an eyebrow. After a long moment he walked from behind his desk and sat at the couch. He gestured for Benezia to have a seat.

"What do you propose?"

Benezia sat down delicately. "Have you ever heard of the reapers?"


	2. Gladius

The turian slamming his shock stick against the cell bars woke Mara Shepard. She sat up on the narrow cot and glanced around the room clutching a ragged wool blanket around her shoulders and shivering. The cell was dank and water was dripping from somewhere giving it an eternally damp feel.

"Up and at it," the turian said, "back of the cell, hands out."

Shepard stood, stretching briefly, her back cracked audibly and she sighed in relief as she stepped to the back of the cell. The turian glanced at her neck, around it was a slim silver band with a black box dampening her biotics. The blue light verified on he stepped through the door and fastened mag cuffs around her outstretched wrists.

This was a new guard, she realized. He glanced her up and down. "Your shorter than I thought you were." He said. It was true, she stood less than his chest, with a long torso and limbs of pure muscles. He ran his eyes over his body and touched her waist briefly. Shepard rolled her eyes and glanced at the ceiling, "never heard that before," she commented dryly.

The turian snorted wielded the shock stick, touching it lightly to her hip. She gritted her teeth against the pain, letting out nothing but a low grunt.

"My owner'll blame you if you injure me on a fight day." She said as he raised the stick for another blow. The turian hesitated.

After a moment he lowered the stick and sighed. "C'mon. You have an hour."

He led her through the labyrinth of cells by a chain connected to the mag cuffs. There was no need. She knew the way, and getting out of her cell was a welcome relief. When they arrived outside he undid the cuffs and stepped back, "your little friends will be here soon."

Shepard nodded and walked to the middle of the ring. It was half of natural stone, with seats carved in, half metal with climate controlled boxes for higher paying customers.

The sun was still low in the sky. In a few hours the stands would be full of turians looking to watch a fight. When this land had been a human farm colony it had been called Eden Prime, Shepard knew, but the turians referred to it as Gladius now. A large swath of it was owned by a coalition of mercenary organizations. They used the property for training their men and providing a unique sort of entertainment. Brutal and cruel, the pits appealed even to some turian citizens who arrived in the neutral ground of the pits and cheered their hearts out for a steep price.

It was all illegal of course. No lawful turian would end up here. Or at least, they wouldn't let anyone know they had been here.

Sometimes the matches were lasted until the opponent stopped getting back up. Sometimes they were death matches. Shepard had seen her fair share of both in the two years she had spent in this hell. Not that it was much different from the last hell she had experienced or the one before that. She had heard the humans owned by military Turians or civilians had better lives, but this was all she had ever really known since her first master, Tanitius, had sold her off to Argus.

That had been after Tanitus had spent six years training her to fight, raising her to lead the rest of his slaves into battle. She had spent another four in that position, putting down human rebellions, and guarding his property. She still didn't understand what she had done to warrant this punishment. Most slaves lasted six months, she had tripled that life expectancy, and no matter how miserable she was, she didn't intend to die anytime soon. Not if she could help it.

Lost in thought, Shepard didn't see the other woman until her tactical cloak dissipated and she was mid-strike. Yanking on Shepard's arm the woman pivoted and pulled, throwing her across the ring and landing with a sickening thump against the dirt. It wasn't the worst landing she had experienced, the ground here was flattened and packed down, with no pebbles and thick layer of sand that absorbed blood and cushioned her fall. She stood wiping blood from her mouth and spat. "Ok, Nirali, point taken. You win."

Nirali grinned at her triumphantly, "Told you I was good enough to sneak up on you."

Mara scowled, "We weren't even fighting. I was standing here wondering where the hell you were."

She and Nirali had been fighting side by side in team matches for their owner, a Turian named Argus. Shepard hated him for his ruthless efficiency. She had seen him put down the third member of their team a week before when he had suffered a klixen injury that had ripped his abdomen wide open. He hadn't even afforded Felix the medical care he needed to die in peace -just raised a pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. It wasn't the first act of casual cruelty he had inflicted.

"They're bringing the new guy right?" Nirali asked, "We're signed up for a grudge match and both of us are going to be hurting without a soldier since Felix is… gone."

Shepard leaned against a wall, "Yeah, he's probably young and green as they come though. We've got an hour to teach him how to not die here and then they'll put us back in the hole until they're ready for us."

"Damn Argus for springing this kid on this. He should have given us a couple weeks." Nirali sighed, "Can't believe Felix bit it here after surviving the front lines during the war. Said he was at Elysian."

Shepard looked up at the sky, "Morii, now."

They both glanced up at the approach of a young man, red headed and freckled. He couldn't have been more than fifteen. Shepard nodded, in greeting.

"What's your name kid?"

The boy looked down at the ground and spoke so quietly Shepard almost didn't hear him. "Jensen."

"Jensen, this is Nirali, our spook. You're the soldier, but for now we're going to keep you back and let you build strength and confidence."

"What do you do?" He asked. He was putting on a good confident front, but Shepard detected a tremble in his voice. She didn't blame him. This was a death sentence. Especially for a green kid, young as he was. He had probably done something to earn himself a ticket here, but it was better not to ask those questions.

She touched the thick silver band around her throat, "Once they disable this, I'm the brute squad." She grinned reassuringly, "Don't worry kid, no one here is dying today. Then they're sending me up against some thing they caught out there." She jutted her chin away from the prefab houses to the wilderness.

The kid swallowed, nodded nervously. "What do I do?"

"Argus wouldn't tell me exactly what we were up against last night," Nirali said, "He wants it to be more interesting."

"He called you to him last night?"

Nirali sighed, "You know Argus." Shepard did. It was a humiliation she and Nirali had both endured. The woman trailed off and shrugged. "Don't worry Mara, I'm fit to fight.

Shepard grunted, "Well then, if he wouldn't tell you, means he's betting against us probably."

Nirali grinned, "Bad idea."

"Your damn right."

Shepard began to lay out a loose strategy in the dirt. They needed Jensen to shoot, but he wouldn't need to come into physical contact with anything, for the moment. Shepard made a mental note to start training him in hand to hand quickly.

"You've fought before, right kid?" Shepard asked.

"Trained with the rest of the kids for a couple weeks before I was assigned this team. Before that I was in the mines."

Nirali bit her lip. Probably shoddy training. No strategy. No training for the pressure of combat. "Ok," she said after a moment, "all the more reason you need to stay out of the way until we get some time to train. Look for an opening, take easy strikes, stay behind me and Shepard."

Jensen nodded.

The sun peeked over the horizon and a guard stepped forward front the narrow opening that led to the Hole. A holding area before fights. "Times up kids."

Nirali touched Jensen's arm, "when I was new here Mara kept me alive. She's been fighting a long time. Do whatever she says."

They all endured the magcuffs and allowed themselves to be led to the Hole. It was an apt name. The Hole was nothing more than a round brick room with rings in the wall with which to attach their chains. There was one in each quadrant of the arena, allowing up to four groups to be housed separately from each other. It made better show if no one knew what they were up against while they waited. Food was brought, though there was never really enough for a biotic of Shepard's strength. She ripped into the nutrient bar and scarfed it down with vigor then tore open the accompanying pouch trying to suck down every drop she could. Nirali took a few bites of her bar and passed it to Shepard.

"You need it more Nirali."/p

"I'll be fine."/p

Shepard's stomach gave a hungry rumble of discontent. She flushed and took the bar, eating more slowly. It still wasn't enough, but it helped./p

Outside, the fervor of the crowd was building. Jensen was pale, "I think I'm gonna throw up."/p

"It's gonna be ok, Jensen. Don't waste the food, just stick to the strategy," Shepard said. /p

"Yeah, ok."/p

Most of the new guys were anxious, until they realized this place was it's own little death every day. Barely a distant meal, hours of grueling training, degrading conditions, barely recovering from a beating or fight only to be tossed into the ring again. They came to understand that death would be something like a relief from the agony of being alive. Most fighters in the pits made it six months. Nirali had showed up just weeks after Shepard, young starving and scared. Shepard had taken her under her wing, and together they had taken on everything thrown at them. /p

Normally, there were a few pit varren fights to get the crowd warmed up. The sand would be bloody by the time they went out. As they started a guard brought in boxes with their armor and released their chains. Sometimes, fights with no armor were planned, sometimes fights with no Omni-tool. Today, Shepard was relieved to see Omni-tools and pads, no real armor, but this left their enemies vulnerable too, she could work with it. Nirali barely wore armor, the better to sneak with, and she hoped to keep Jensen as far away from any action as possible./p

Outside the crowd was roaring. One of the turians, she glimpsed through the holes opening was pulling back a varren. Blood and saliva dripped from it's fangs. A turian handed her two plain white pills and she grinned as she tossed them back dry. It only took a few moments for the shaking in her hands to stop. Even with the dampening collar the buzzing in her brain was strong. They had hooked her on the dust young, but nothing had ever compared to the raw power of fighting with that much biotic strength in her veins.

She wanted to scream, she wanted to fight.

Nirali caught her battle high and grinned at her. Shepard grinned back. Jensen looked between them. He was tense, shaking. "Get ready kid. Stick to the plan."

"Right, right."

"Check your seals," she called, looking at the latches on her chest armor.

The door of the hole shot open and Shepard darted into the open arena. The crowd was screaming. Her translator fritzed, unable to translate all the voices at once. They filled her ears as the biotic cooler finally switched off and a full corona surrounded her.

Three humans charged through the other side. They looked terrified, empty. Easy targets.

One was on the ground almost as fast as he was out the door. He biotically charged at Jensen, trying to bypass the two women. In a moment Shepard had intercepted him, stopping him with her own charge and canceling their momentum for just long enough. Nirali took him out with a punch to his amp generator, and a blow to the head. The man collapsed to the ground

She initiated another biotic charge. Her full body slammed into the leader- a big man, with long hair in a pony tail and a full beard- taking out his shields. He punched back hard. She took it, letting her body fall back with the blow. She had long since learned that part of the game was putting on a show, so she ignored an opening and let the momentum sent her backwards into a flip she landed fist to ground detonating a nova. The crowd was screaming in her ears. Pulling her Omni blade out as she hit the ground she approached the staggered opponent.

She sensed the third opponent, a woman, on her left before she saw her and whirled, trusting Nirali was nearby to take the big man. She dodged backwards and turned sideways then grabbed their woman's fist and yanked her forward and off balence. The woman had already activated her Omni-blade, Shepards hand caught not the silver band on her wrist and yanked it roughly off as the woman stumbled. The blade fizzled out and Shepard tossed it to the ground and sent a stunning punch into the woman's chest. Then ducked past a return blow and kicked out, sweeping the woman's legs. She simed another harsh kick at the woman's stomach and then approached the wheezing opponent.

She pressed her boot into the woman's neck, careful not to meet her eyes. She felt the woman wheezing from lack of oxygen beneath her boot. Shepard glanced up in the stands, met Argus's eyes, asking a clear but silent question, but there was no time for an answer.

The next blow aimed at her came from the corner of her eye and she barely saw it before she turned to catch it on her forearm, stepping off the fallen woman, who rolled away to avoid being trampled. Nirali was on this one's back digging a forearm into his throat and trying to control him with little success- it did little more than slow him down.

Smoothly, Shepard ducked the man's next punch letting his strength carry him forward and past her. Nirali jumped backwards off his back, rolling on her side before she leapt lightly to her feet. Shepard stepped in front to guard her until she gained her footing. The man turned back towards Shepard, and she saw his fist draw back a second time.

pNirali shouted a warning. Shepard moved to dodge, but something held her back. The blow landed and for a moment the world went blank and soundless. Noise came rushing back along with the pain a bare second later.

pHer ankle was still firmly in the grasp of her first opponent, the biotic-he must have not been fully knocked out- and she was half tripping over her own leg. Seeing his punch land, the big man grinned through bloody teeth and aimed a second punch at her ribs. Shepard screamed and doubled over, nearly between a stumble and her captive ankle. She shook her leg trying to break free and then she was, but it was a moment too late. The kick landed in her stomach, and she rolled backwards to lessen the impact and got to her knees, forcing herself to suppress the urge to vomit.

The big man was already pivoting, pulling his own Omni-blade, turning towards Nirali, who crouched and faced him, her own Omni-blade bared and eyes narrowed./p

As she took a breath, Shepard took stock of the field. The man who had held Shepard's ankle was screaming in pain. Jensen was beside him, looking sick, but just lifting his boot, from where he had stomped firmly on the man's arm. A sickeningly white bone stuck out a crazy angle and the wounded biotic threw up a barrier sending Jensen reeling. His amp buzzed and he screamed again. Shepard winced in sympathy. Using biotics with fritzed amp was excruciating, but he held it.

Jensen was a few feet away with the biotic between them. The woman she had tried to choke out was on her hands and knees wheezing, but rising slowly on her other side. In front of her, the man was whirling, searching for Nirali who was-where was she? Shepard squinted looking for the tell tale shimmer of a the cloaked woman then saw her. She grinned to herself. /p

_Game_

She sent a shockwave spinning towards the man who stumbled hard, but missed her team mate. Nirali de-cloaked a moment later, bringing a fist into the man's nose, the other grabbing at his shoulder at just the right spot. The man dropped to a knee and Nirali slammed his face down as she brought her knee up, gripping his hair hard.

Shepard took a roll to the side and slammed a fist into the barrier of the already wounded biotic. It shattered. "Yours Jensen," She called.

_set_

She was overdrawing, she knew. He corona flickered, and she felt cold as sweat ran down her face. Still, she sent a pull out at the woman, who had finally gained her feet. Shepard darted towards her now helpless form and, gripping the woman's hair, she yanked her out of the pull and threw her, face up, to the ground, before pressing her heel back into the woman's throat.

_And match_

Nirali had the big man on the ground, one hand gripping his hair and holding his head back at an odd angle, the other pressing his arm to the small of his back. Jensen had ripped the amp out of the biotic and thrown it to the side, keeping one hand on the back of the man's neck and a knee on his shoulder. It wouldn't have mattered, the biotic wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. An amp gone like that would leave him paralyzed with pain for another few hours. He might never be the same.

Shepard tasted blood and when she grinned she knew the smile was bloody. It was only these fights, these moments of pure adrenaline, that gave her the will to live this life. The drugs were still coursing through her veins and filling her body with power, already her overdraw symptoms were fading.

It was supposed to just be a grudge match. A show for the crowd. No deaths, but still she lifted her eyes to the where the match coordinator stood. The losing team owner stood to the right, Argus to the left. There was an argument going on that Shepard couldn't hear. Argus had an angry expression on his face, and the other turian looked disgusted. The match coordinator was silent a long moment, then shrugged and dragged a talent across his throat.

Across the field Nirali met Shepard's eyes, both of them obviously disgusted, then bent to their work. Shepard looked down, the woman was half crying, wheezing with the effort it took to breathe. In another life this woman might have been anything, here she was food for a crowd that would not be sated by any amount of human blood. Only the strongest survived, and no matter how brutal it might be, there was no room for pity.

Shepard stomped down, twisted her heel. The woman went limp. As she stepped away, Nirali was pulling her Omni-blade from the back of the man's neck. Jensen was standing now, one boot on the biotics back, amp held limply in his hand, eyes round as full moons. Shepard walked over. The crowd was quieting enough for her to hear the sound of the biotic begging for his life. She pushed Jensen back gently. "Don't make him suffer anymore," she said, "make it fast." She nudged the man over on his back as gently as possible with her boot, then knelt beside him. He was still clutching his broken arm eyes glassy with pain and shock.

Jensen didn't make a move. Shepard sighed and shook her head. "You get one kid. Next time, it's on you. She clenched her fist, Omni blade popping up. "Sorry," she muttered, "find some place better in the next life." She brought the knife across his throat and stepped back quickly as his life blood drained into the sand.

There were already guards coming out, dragging the bodies of their opponents away. Ushering them back to the hole. Nirali and Jensen went quietly. Nirali had a hand on her ribs, and Shepard felt her own side aching. The big man must have cracked one. Blood was still steaming down her face from the punch. She was sweating with overdraw. Desperately she hoped that the bloody display at the end would be enough, that they'd let her go home.

A turian at the entrance held up a hand to her and she stopped, sighing as she turned. Shepard heard him slam the door shut after Nirali and Jensen stepped through. Already the door at the other end of the ring was opening. She started towards the figure that was pushed through, trying to hide her slight limp. Best to make this fast. Showing weakness would only create an opening and she couldn't make out what the figure actually was from here. Probably some overgrown wild varren someone had found.

It wasn't a varren. It wasn't even an animal. An asari got to her feet, having been bodily pushed through the door. She brushed dirt from her lab coat. Shepard stepped back in shock, this was new. She had fought humans. She had fought wild animal. She had even fought the odd alien- vorcha mostly, or a turian that had seriously messed up- but asari had always been firmly off limits.

Stepping forward, the asari held up her hands, "Please, I don't want to fight you."


	3. One objective

Doctor Liara T'soni was not having a good day. The past several had been dismal. She should never have come here, but initial survey results had shown such promising readings. There was much here to find on Gladius, she had known from the outset. She was, of course, also fully aware of the risk of coming to this planet. The hierarchy had all but given it over to mercenary organizations who divided its territory and fought over it jealously, but surely a small team could sneak by, harvest a few worthwhile finds and prove that they needed further exploration of the area.

It hadn't exactly worked like that, however. The first few days they had seen not a soul. Liara hadn't even been fully aware of where the colony was. Several days into their dig they had found something, a beacon. Huge in size and incapable of being taken off world without alerting the current residents. They hadn't had a chance to investigate their find at all before the dig site was overrun and her security forces and fellow scientists had been killed. She had been dragged back here, wherever this was.

Liara brushed the dirt from her chest and planted her feet on the sand, still bloody with the people this woman in front of her had murdered. She had watched through the grating, one hand over her mouth, holding back a scream of horror. There was already a biotic corona beginning to shimmer around the human again, despite the clear exhaustion in her gait. One of her eyes was swelling. She had a slight limp from a hit she had taken and she raised a fist, wiping blood from her nose, but, despite her injuries, she looked ready to fight. As she approached there was a resolve in her eyes.

Neither of them were wearing traditional hard suits. In their stead, they were leather armor. It looked like some ancient relic from one of the earth vids a few of her classmates had been fond of watching. They had taken her hard suit as well and given her something similar. She wore her mesh underneath at least. No one had taken it or tried to assault her in any other unsavory way. Likely they had been saving her for- for whatever this was.

Liara held up a hand, aware that she was shaking, "Please, I don't want to fight you."

The woman let out a harsh bark, that might have passed for a laugh. "Lady, we don't have a choice." The crowd's clamor was rising, nearly drowning out the human's words.

"We can-," Liara glanced around wildly looking for an escape, "We can…" Her stomach lurched with fear. They were trapped down here, hundreds of people watching them.

The human's eyes narrowed, "get ready, I can give you a few seconds. Then the show starts." There was no warmth or pity on her face, only grim determination.

Liara hadn't been this frightened in years. She was going to die here, no one knew where she was. There was no way to track her as far as the mercenary settlement even if someone found her distress beacon. She had never been supposed to come here in the first place and now she was destined for some unmarked mass grave. If help arrived- and that was a substantial if- it appeared it would be dismally late. For a moment the fear leapt wild and untamed in her breast. She forced it back down. Three breaths, a mentor had taught her once during her first real fight. When you're scared take three breaths to think. Then act.

one

The air here smelled of blood and sweat and fear. The stench of the crowd working themselves into a steady mania. All the eyes on her made her want to crawl back into a hole, but, if she was going to survive this, there wasn't time to focus on that. Look, her mother would have told her, use that brain of yours and get the advantage.

two

The human was limping. She was injured, she was tired, and she was overtaxing her biotics. She might have had no chance against this human trained for close biotic combat when that human was fresh, but she wasn't. If her ticket out of here was to win, Liara had to win. Keep the human using her biotics, focus on her injured points. Win.

three

Her biotics flared and Liara launched herself at the human. She had never had quite the muscle to initiate a full on charge. She preferred to use her biotics from a distance, but fear gave her strength.

The human hadn't been expecting it so quickly and caught the full weight, letting out a yell of pain and surprise as she staggered backwards. Liara followed up with a punch, but she had little experience in hand to hand and the human caught it easily in her own. She pulled and twisted and for a moment , Liara found herself disoriented in the air until her biotics kicked in and she landed lightly on her feet.

The human pivoted to face her again a vicious smile twisting at her lips. This close Liara could now see the detail of the turian slave tattoos on her face. She had been told once how to interpret them, but the analytic part of her mind couldn't seem to remember.

"That's it lady," The human said, just loud enough to be heard, "give them a show and you might last until tomorrow."

Liara didn't have time to ponder the meaning behind the human's words. In less than a breath the human was on her. Liara lifted an arm, managing to block an initial punch, fueled as it was with blue biotic energy.

Somewhere, in her mind, Shiani, the commando her mother had hired to teach her combat, was reminding her. "Keep your hands up, guard your face. Light on your toes, princess. Stay ready to move."

It felt more like cowering beneath a bevy of powerful blows and less like defending herself. Liara felt herself crouching. Stars exploded behind her vision as the human scored a hit against her shoulder, then her temple. She cried out in pain as her vision narrowed to a thin tunnel. Automatically she aimed an elbow as hard as she could at her opponents ribs. They were padded with the thick leather, but she had seen her take a hard kick there earlier.

That worked. The woman stumbled backwards, teeth gritted, pained whimpers escaping between her teeth. "Nice," the human said roughly, then cried out again as Liara aimed a biotic punch. This one hit hard, right on the nose. The human went down, blood streaming down her chin, but grasping at Liara's armor straps hard enough to bring her with her. They rolled across the sand as the crowd roared in approval above them. For a moment, Liara held the advantage, a hand against the woman's throat as she tried to summon her Omni-tool, but then the woman twisted vigorously rolling on top of Liara.

Liara's hand remained locked around the woman's throat, hampering her air, but not managing to cut it out completely.

The human's lips were pulled back in snarl and she wheezing with the difficulty of breathing in Liars's grip. The tattoos were even more fierce up close. Liara's mind catalogued them as if is there would be time to study their meaning later. She could now see another pale scar cutting through the tattoo ink. This focused study, she realized, was probably her mind going into shock, trying to shield her from the trauma of losing this fight. And she was sure now that she was going to lose this fight. The next body dragged, bloody and unmoving from the ring, would be hers.

The woman's arms scrabbled, gripping Liara's wrist and twisting painfully with one hand. Her other hand curled into a fist and she hit Liara hard in the temple. There was a last bit of fight in her, Liara realized. She dig into her reserves of mental energy, and reflexively, Liara threw up a barrier around herself, tossing the woman backwards with the speed and force of it's expansion. The human landed on her hands and knees, clutching at her throat and inhaling deeply. Deep purple bruises were already forming where Liara had dig in her fingers.

The barrier flickered and disappeared as Liara's strength hit a breaking point again. It was unlikely she'd be able to pull off such a show of force again. For a moment her eyes flitted behind the woman where the crowd was jeering for her imminent demise only moments before, but her jaw dropped in shock at what she saw in the stands instead. She held up her hands again, this time the combination of fear and adrenaline causing them to shake wildly.

"Stop," said Liara, "you can't."

The human shook out her arms, breathing out in a huff, "We've been through this. We can't stop. I can't stop. They won't let me." She took another step towards Liara, obviously convinced the asari had given up, "I'll try to make it fast."

"No," Once again Liara held up a shaky hand pointing to the stands behind them, "listen to them."

The human paused, eyebrows furrowing as she took in the noise from and then, slowly she turned her back to face the same way as Liara.

"Shit."

* * *

They were tall. Even the shorter looking ones. They walked upright, but whatever they were, they weren't human. That much was immediately clear. The sounds that emanated from them were decidedly mechanical, but they moved with more grace than any machine Mara Shepard had ever seen.

Mara Shepard struggled to understand what she was seeing and hearing. The asari was beside her now. "What are those?"

"I-," the asari shook her head, "I don't know. It can't be."

The terror of the crowd was finally registering. The machines, whatever they were, wielded guns and there were already bodies of turians, vorcha, and batarians hitting the ground. The rest were slowly waking up to the danger and starting to flee as the gunshots traveled across the arena.

"Shit," Shepard said again as she took another step back, "fucking shit."

Then she turned decisively, "come on."

The asari fell in beside her, "Where are we going."

"Gotta get Nirali and Jensen and then we're getting the hell out of here."

"I don't even know who you are."

Shepard growled in frustration, stopping before the closed grating of the door to the hole. "Mara Shepard, you?"

"Doctor Liara T'soni."

"Well, now that we know each other, let's get the hell out of here before they shoot us to, huh?" she snarled and slammed a fist on the grating. "Hey! Let us in!"

Nirali's voice came from inside, "the guards ran. What's going on?"

Shepard grabbed the bottom of the grating, and glanced at Liara, "help me lift it, then duck under. There's a lever to open it on the other side."

Liara glanced behind her and gasped, "duck." Shepard didn't hesitate, ducking and throwing up a barrier. Liara did the same. The double barrier barely stopped the missile launched from one of the machines. It did, however, leave the wall and grating in rubble. As soon as the barrier was down both women jumped over the rubble and into the hole.

Jensen was pressed back against the wall. Nirali was at the end of her chains, "c'mon Mara, get us out."

"This is my original Omni-tool," Liara said, "I might be able to override the locks on their shackles."

"Do it!" Shepard turned, "I'll hold them off if we need to. She glanced around for a weapon, preferably a gun. There was nothing. She stationed herself at the crumpled remains of the door. She'd have to make due with biotics.

"Who's out there," Jensen asked, "What's going on."

Liara was already pulling out her Omni-tool typing non-stop as code flashed in front of her, "if I'm right," she said then paused, making a frustrated face, "those are geth, but that doesn't make any sense.

"Geth?" Nirali asked. Her chains popped open and she rubbed her wrists.

Liara started on Jensen's bindings immediately. "I'll explain later. Once we're safe."

Shepard glanced out the door, a few of the armed merc's were making a stand, but it didn't appear to be ver successful. A few geth were down, but rocket drones were taking out more of the would-be fighters.

Jensen's shackles popped open after a long tense moment.

A turian, eyes black in death, landed a few dozen away from the entrance followed by another a moment later. Shepard nodded to herself, "Nirali, with me." Nirali caught her train of thought immediately and together the two women moved towards the fallen warriors and stripped him of weapons. Two pistols, an SMG, a shotgun, and an old fashioned combat knife. Not bad.

"Can you shoot?" Shepard asked the asari. Liara nodded and Shepard tossed her a pistol. Nirali took the other pistol and Jensen the SMG. Shepard clapped him on the shoulder reassuringly, trying to display more confidence than she felt. She tucked the combat knife into her boot.

"They'll be here in a minute," Liara said nervously.

"Is there time to get anyone else out? There's hundreds of people here."

Shepard glanced towards the door and narrow stairs that led down to the cells. They could stay, barricade themselves in with the other humans. But that option felt wrong. There was a new path opening before her, and she couldn't help but follow it. She shifted her weight one foot to the other and then said, "Jam the door shut as tightly as you can, Nirali." It would have to hold. "We'll cover you."

She gestured to rubble. "Get to cover people. Let's do this. I'm getting out of here alive."

They were just in time. Six geth streamed through the doors. The asari wasn't too bad of a shot. Her biotics were helpful too, setting up attacks Jensen so Shepard could take advantage. Shepard stayed off her biotics as much as possible, trying to save them for the worst of the attackers, knowing that the previous two fights had already bright her most of the way to exhausting her power. She could try to get her hands on some of the pills the turians gave her, but she doubted they'd keep them anywhere easily accessible. Her hands were starting to shake from using too many biotics in the absence of the drug and she forced herself to tighten up on the pistol

Nirali joined them once the doors were jammed and together the team of four managed their way through the door, back out into the arena.

For a moment all four of them stood in a line, looking up at the ship that now dominated the skyline.

"Shit," Jensen muttered, "What is it?"

Nirali shook her head mutely.

Shepard glanced at Liara, "Do you know anything about this?"

"I have no idea what that is."

The geth that they hadn't killed had cleared out of the arena by now, leaving nothing but broken bodies in their wake. At a brief glance, Shepard didn't see Argus among them. Somehow she doubted he had died. More likely, he had made a run of it. Cowardly and slimy as always he would survive a massacre.

Nirali's thoughts must have run along the same lines, because she kicked over a few of the turians near where Argus had been standing, once they had climbed the wall to the stands. The match coordinator was there, but no Argus. Shepard extended a hand down to Liara and hoisted herself up. Beside her Jensen was already up.

Liara looked around, "what a waste of life."

"Not worth mourning any of these creeps," Shepard gave a batarian body a vicious boot in the side for emphasis. Then she launched all of them down the new path that had opened just moments before, during the attack.

"Look, you're planning to get us off planet, right?" She asked the asari suddenly.

It was a roll of the dice, trusting this alien. The asari could lie, and betray them to the hierarchy or slavers later. They might be caught in their escape attempt by the turians. They could be killed by these geth. But unless they intended to stand here helplessly, this was the only path she could see forward.

The asari looked startled, "what? I- I need to get to the beacon. It's vital technology, and likely what the geth are after it. I activated a distress beacon there earlier as well." She lifted her chin, "There are people coming for me." She jutted out her chin as if in defiance, but Shepard could sense that she might be exaggerating the truth. Worst case scenario they might be able to find a shuttle and use the asari as cover to make run for it. Maybe even a hostage if the situation demanded it.

"Ok," Shepard breathed out feeling the makings of a plan forming, "we'll go to the beacon. And then you'll make up a good story, and get us out of here."

There was a long pause.

"Or we don't protect you at all," Nirali said, stepping beside her. "I have no problem leaving you here by yourself."

"Me either," Jensen said. Both women looked at him with bemusement and he shrugged, "aliens never did crap for me."

Liara seemed taken aback by the human's apparent non-challenge about leaving her to die, then nodded slowly, "I- I might be able to work something out. Get you to Omega maybe."

She didn't seem evil or cruel, but Shepard got the sense she was terribly naïve. No one had sat this girl down and had a conversation with her about how the world worked. Maybe asari matured more slowly. She had heard their lifespans might be longer than other species, but she had such little experience with aliens outside of the pits, or Tantius. This was the first asari she had ever seen up close.

Shepard glanced at Nirali, then Jensen gaging their reactions to the half hearted promise, then nodded. A hard maybe was better than no. If Liara failed them, she might still have a chance to get her team safe away from here. What did any of them have to lose? "You've got yourself a team, T'soni."

Shepard salvaged some medi-gel from a few of the corpses and tossed it around. Her ribs ached terribly, even with the cool gel she soaked a rag and tied around them. She used someones canteen to wash the blood off her chin and stifled a cry as Nirali pushed her nose back into place. It wasn't the first time it had been broken, but she had been surprised at the strength of the asari's punch. The medi-gel also brought the swelling in her eye down to manageable levels. It wasn't a great patch up job but it would have to do. She tended to Nirali's wounds- scrapped knuckles, a few blackened bruises- while Liara and Jensen tended to each other. Neither had sustained anything too troublesome.

When the other two weren't looking Nirali grabbed her hands, "Mara…" she trailed off.

Shepard nodded, "I know, but this is our only chance."

For a moment they stayed like that. She had fought beside Nirali for more than a year long. She couldn't remember having anything close to a friend in so long. Nirali met her eyes and then nodded, once. "I trust you."

They set off through the door of the arena and into the streets of Gladius. Their chances of survival felt slim. Shepard couldn't picture how they were going to live through the next few hours, but if they did, at the end of the tunnel was freedom. Something more than some leather pads would be preferable, but no opportunity was ever perfect. This was the best chance she had at freedom in a decade and she didn't intend to squander it. If they found some hard suits that fit, they could get themselves supplied later.

Outside the arena sat the pre-fabs. It appeared that they were empty and abandoned, or else locked down with all occupants inside. Shepard had only seen this area once, when Tantius had brought her from his ship to the arena and bartered her off to Argus. There hadn't been quite as many bodies littering the streets then, and her memory was hazy regardless.

Thankfully Liara seemed ready enough to point the way. Using her Omni-tool the doctor tagged nav-points from where she hung in the middle of the group.

"I don't understand what this place is." The asari said as they trotted down the road.

Nirali made a sound of disgust in the back of her throat.

Shepard felt her cheeks grow hot, she shouldn't blame this seemingly innocent woman for not knowing, and yet..

"What do you think it is?"

"They- you fight?" It was phrased as a guess, but Shepard sensed a refusal to believe that any system as in humane as this one could exist in her charmed world.

Shepard nodded grimly, "This is the last stop for most of us. Lose the wrong fight and it's all over. We've outlived any other use but entertainment."

_Not necessarily true,_ she thought, _I did my job. I won Tantius every victory he asked for, and he dumped me here like a sack of garbage and left me to die here._

"Goddess," she half turned to see the asari wide eyed. Her cheeks had turned a slightly darker shade of cerulean.

"I sincerely doubt the gods have anything to do with this place," Jensen muttered darkly.

They approached a canyon and Shepard slowed them, glancing carefully around. This would be an ideal spot for an ambush. She could feel the training of her earlier years aboard Tantius' ship kicking in.

She slowed her breath and scanned the tops of the canyon looking for anything unusual.

There. Right there.

There shouldn't be light there like that casting a shadow in the opposite direction as the planets sun. She ducked behind one of the trees growing in the are and considered her next move. Luckily the trees here were large and oblong, providing adequate cover for two at a time. There was a long line of them down the path and Shepard found herself wondering who, if anyone, had planned the gardening of this place. It certainly felt intentional, if neglected.

The city surrounding the pits was made mostly of pre-fab housing clinging to a muddy hillside. Shepard hadn't seen the allure of the planet. There was only brown mud, trampled dirt, and the barren cliff side. Out here, the land was lush and green. Purple and red flowers sprung from the rocks, and the dirt was rich and spongy beneath her feet. Perhaps some of these trees had been planted by the colonists who had lived here for one brief, euphoric moment when it felt that humanity might stretch to the stars and rule alongside the turian, salarian, and asari- before the chokehold of subjugation had so thouroughly tightened.

She glanced up at the cliff side again, as the light flickered and moved. She couldn't quite hear the mechanical groans yet, but the thing – the geth- was headed for them.

The rest of the team seemed to have caught on that she had seen something and were ducking behind cover as well. The doctor stayed by her as if glued to her side, seeming to have decided that she was the most capable person of her protecting her.

She looked ready to ask another question but Shepard tensed at a sound nearby and pressed a finger to her lips. Carefully, she peered out from the tree. Slightly ahead and to the right Nirali and Jensen hid behind a boulder. Nirali looked at her and then meaningfully towards a path just above them, opposite and back from the geth position. A turian was making his way down. The slope was steep and full of gravel and he slid frequently, gained his feet and then slid again.

He didn't appear to see them, focused as he was on finding his footing. He did, however, attract the attention of the geth Shepard had hoped to avoid. She ducked back as the rocket drones flew down. She pressed a finger to her lips and Nirali nodded. Gunfire crackled, and all four of them pressed themselves against cover, hoping the battle didn't force them out of their hiding spots.

"Meeting with some resistence, Commander. Watch yourself," the turian said into his comma unit when all finally fell silent.

Shepard couldn't hear the response but when the doctor moved she automatically reached out and caught her.

"Who's out there?" Liara asked, "It might be the response to my distress signal. They could protect us."

At least the damned fool had the common sense to keep her voice down.

Shepard shook her head and hissed, "It's a turian. One I don't know. I won't risk our lives on it." For the briefest of moments she considered activating her Omni-blade and killing Liara right there. The three humans were runaways now. Even the hierarchy wouldn't look kindly on them, though the pits were illegal. There was a strong chance even a law abiding turian would put them down as quickly as a rabid dog would have been put down back on earth, assuming them irrecoverably damaged for any useful service.

The asari seemed to stop, considering Shepard's words. She had obviously run into enough turians with less than honorable intentions over the last day or two, or perhaps she saw the wicked gleam in Shepard's eyes. She stayed where she was and Shepard breathed out in relief. She didn't want to kill the woman. It would make getting off this station and out of citadel and hierarchy space even more difficult.

The turian's presence was certainly convenient, however. He was clearing a path to the dig site. Likely, they'd have to eliminate him to get off world, but that was beside the point. For now, Shepard led her people a few hundred yards behind them only stopping to occasionally pick up and pass out some better weaponry from what he left with the fallen geth. It was better than trying to fight there way through. Her team was tired, the asari was traumatized, and Shepard felt like a rag with all the water rung out of her. Any further use of her biotic abilities would be dangerous unless she managed to scrounge up some of the pills or some nutrient packs.

If she thought about the pills, her hands started to shake and her mind ran in frantic little circles of want. She forced herself to ignore the empty ache of need.

They didn't give the young biotics pills anymore. It was some distillate of an old drug called red sand that they had hooked Shepard's generation of biotics on. They had to have something to keep a young biotic on a fabricated leash of addiction no matter how powerful they became. They didn't tattoo the young ones anymore either. The younger humans used paint to apply temporary markings. The mercenaries could use slaves for labor, but certainly not as shock troops or to infiltrate any outposts of rebel humans. All of those rules had existed long after Shepard had been tattooed, hooked, and trained by Tantius to be deadly against her own kind. Supposedly, things out there were better now for humans, but that was world Mara Shepard knew nothing about. The only thing she knew was to to fight. How to survive the unsurvivable.

Liara suddenly stopped her, a hand on her arm and pointed just ahead.

A circular metal platform had been unearthed in a crater between some of the hills. From here Shepard could already see only one way in and one way out. The turian stood in the middle of the platform, looking around curiously.

"The dig site," Liara hissed.

Shepard nodded and signaled to Liara to stay put with Nirali and Jensen before sidling up, staying low in the grass and behind a few nearby rocks. She could see the turian clearly now. He was tall and his carapace was brown with white markings. He appeared to be old, but not decrepit, still in relatively good shape. Some of the older turians had gotten fat and lazy, allowing slaves to take over most of the harder labor, but not this one. He was as lean and as muscular as Shepard remembered the strike teams that had attacked her home had been.

A second turian appeared from behind and the one she had followed, turned quickly drawing his weapon then relaxed. "Saren?" He said. Shepard could read his body language easily. Some humans couldn't, but her time among the mercenary's had taught her the importance of being able to understand turian posture, and adapt her response accordingly. When she was young it was how she had dodged abuse her fellows had to endure, when she was older it was how she kept Tantius happy with her. This turian was surprised, but not disappointed. There was no mistrust in his expression. The two of them must not simply know each other, they must be friends or teammates who had built a rapport over a long time.

"Nihlus," the newcomer said, he seemed less at ease, but not nervous. More battle ready, but aiming for relaxed.

Nihlus. The name of the one she had followed. It sounded vaguely familiar.

"Saren," Nihlus said, "I didn't expect to see you here. This isn't your mission. What are you doing here?" He nodded respectfully, "the distress call came from here, but there was supposedly an artifact here."  
Saren nodded, "the council thought you could use some help on this one." He stroud around the area, as if surveying the geography. There was a slickness about him. Shepard knew deception when she saw it.

"I wasn't expecting to find geth here," Nihlus stated. He was studying a screen he had bright up on his Omni-tool now. "the situation's bad, but I think I've located the beacon."

Saren nodded, raised his gun to the back of his friends head, "Don't worry. I've got it all under control." The shot rang out through the hillside. Shepard could see Nirali peaking out from cover, her tanned face pale, lips pursed into a tight line.

The turian nodded to himself as his friend toppled to his knees and then fell face forward onto the scaffold. Behind him, Shepard could see someone. It was tall and lanky human male, black hair slicked back into a pony tail, features sharp as a hawks. He didn't have tattoos marking him, but appeared to be older than her. She didn't have time to ponder the mystery.

The gun shot cracked through the hillside, and then the turian and the human disappeared behind the hill. Once they were gone Liara, Nirali and Jensen jogged up beside her.

"What the hell happened?" Jensen asked. Shepard looked at the fallen body and shrugged, "I'm not exactly sure. There was another turian and a human. One of them shot the other."

Nirali just shook her head, "I don't like any of this," she said grimly

Liara looked half in shock, "there was another human?" She echoed, Shepard shrugged. "I don't… I have no idea." The asari muttered after a moment. She examined the remains of the dead turian and looked up sharply. "I know him. He's council, a SpecTRe." Then she glared at Shepard, "You just let him die?"

Shepard walked over to her, grabbing a strap on the armor near the doctor's neck and lifted her to her feet, "listen to me," her voice was quiet, dangerous. The asari fought her only a moment before going wide eyed and limp again, "I don't know where you're from. I don't know who you are. But I know turians and I know what they've done to me. I don't give a shit how many of them die, or who's side their on. There's only one objective here, and that's to survive this. All I want is a ticket to some place safe and quiet. Unless you want to stay here and deal with mercs and SpecTRe's and gods only know what else, I suggest you shut up and follow my lead. Understand?"

To her credit the doctor nodded once, mutely.

Shepard nodded, and let go of the doctor. "For now, we keep moving. Keep a sharp eye out and stay quiet. I don't want anything on this planet to even know we exist.

"The miner's village is just over the hill," Jensen said behind her, "that's where I'm from"

Shepard nodded. That would mean human slaves and a few heavily armed guards. She didn't want attention from either if it could be helped. If Jensen was from here, though, it could leave them vulnerable to his entire family trying to follow them out of here- that is, if they were on planet and alive.

Well, he could stay with them, or make a run for it. He would have to choose.

The hillside was coated in mud and it was dirty slippery trip up. At the top, Shepard glanced down, noticing a trickle of red tinted water flowing down. Her eyes widened as she followed it to it's source just over the peak and she pushed Jensen one way, before covering Liara with her body and shoving her behind a rock. Nirali was holding Jensen back, one hand over his mouth. Liara had her head down and Shepard grabbed her as she hissed in the spot where she was pretty sure Asari ears were, "don't look up, and, if you do, don't scream." She released the Doctor's neck and watched her look up, and then immediately look away, one pale blue hand covering her mouth.

One of the smaller geth lifted a man in miner's clothes. He was heavily injured but still struggling weakly as he was carried to the spike protruding from the ground. With a vicious shove the geth impaled him and pressed something into a panel on the side. Blood gushed from the man's mouth as the spike shot six feet in the air. There were more spikes. Dozens of them, and each one had one or two humans impaled on them, mouths open in their now silenced screams. Their limbs protruded limply at odd angles, as if they had flailed for minutes after they had been killed.

There were so many of them here. The entire mining facility had to have been killed. It had to be all of them or nearly all of them. The guards had either been killed, or more likely, had retreated when they realized sacrificing these humans would slow the geth.

One of the spikes slowly descended, but the human attached to it had changed. It was…robotic almost. Blue light shown from circuitry where there had once been veins. The muscles were black through the rips torn in the corpse's clothing. It's face was a horror of boney white skull and shining blue eyes that were unmistakably dead.

It tilted it's head back to the sky and gave a roar of rage. Jensen's answering cry of anger filled the air as he broke free from Nirali and ran from cover. The geth nearby whirled. Shepard groaned and pushed the doctor back to the ground, "if you want to stay alive, stay behind me.

Before she could make a move the geth calmly raised a shotgun, pointed it at the boy and pulled the trigger, Jensen fell backwards still gasping, but Shepard knew a mortal wound when she saw one. It wouldn't be long before the fool expired, and not only that but he had given away their position. She sucked in her horrified gasp as one of the geth hoisted him up and walked towards a spike, but Nirali was the one who let out a tiny squeal of shock.

It was enough.

The husks of what had once been humans, were charging towards the three of them.

Shepard vented her heat sink and prepared for a stand, one she was fairly certain could be her last.


	4. The Beacon

_This chapter is monsterously long. Hope you like it. In other news, I'm absolutely humbled by the amount of people who are reading. Thanks._

* * *

Commander Garrus Vakarian stood on the hillside overlooking the most populous part of the colony and made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat.

"I know," Decima Val'en said, "This whole situation is a mess."

That wasn't quite the stream of thought Garrus had been following. He was thinking back to New York, wondering if he had known then what he had knew now- known that he would one day have to land on the oozing boil that was Gladius. It had been him, after all, who had negotiated with the Blue Suns for aid in those final days of assault. He had promised them slaves, and he had promised them a blind eye, but he hadn't envisioned the pits then.

It was visible from here, the outside at least. It was a monstrosity. Garrus hummed a note of discontent.

He glanced at Kaiden out of the corner of his eye.

The human male was characteristically stoic and silent. Nearly as tall as Garrus, but broader than most turians, the man and his biotic abilities had been part of Garrus's ground team for nearly a decade.

Kaiden shifted uncomfortably, "We should look for survivors." He left off the word 'human', but Garrus could guess what he was thinking, or what he would be thinking if roles had been reversed.

"If we find anyone," Garrus promised, "we'll do what we can. But the beacon comes first."

Nihlus had shown him Liara T'soni's initial logs. The doctor had pointed out the wealth of information already recovered from Mars in the Milky Way galaxy. This could provide similar information. Technological breakthroughs that could shape the next era of galactic expansion could be here, on Gladius, right under their noses.

This mission was supposed to gauge his candidacy to join Nihlus as a council SpecTRe, accomplishing important missions like this one. He could already here his father's criticisms if he were selected. Oh he'd be in for an earful if he were selected. He shook his head, and glanced at the road ahead. It was scattered with bullet riddled bodies. It didn't look as if they'd even had a chance to fight back. He nodded to Decima, then Kaidan. "Let's move out."They started across the plain, towards the colony. Then nav-point point lay just beyond.

That was when they had heard the gunshot.

Decima's mandibles flared, "what was that?"

"Nihlus?" Garrus paged the SpecTRe. "Any idea what that was? More resistence?"

Nothing.

Garrus gestured to a supply shack, "Can you hack it Alenko?"

"Haven't found anything I can't hack yet, sir."

While the human went to work Garrus found his eyes drawn back to the arena looming above them.

He had asked the Hierarchy to act on this for years with no results and plenty of excuses. Ironically, it was the same deals he had cut during the war that kept the hierarchy from doing anything to stop this. Decima sensed his thoughts and put a hand on his shoulder, "It's not your fault."

Garrus let out a quiet laugh, "It's a little my fault."

Decima crossed her arms, leaning her weight into the leg closest to him. "The hierarchy will shut it down eventually."

"How many people do you think will die in the meantime?"

Decima had the good sense to look uncomfortable. They were both silent another beat until the console behind them chirped.

The biotic stepped back, "Done sir."

Garrus lifted his assault rifle as the biotic tapped the green command console and stepped quickly aside.

The turian inside was clearly wounded. His armor was cracked on it's torso where he had taken a bullet. Blue blood dripped down the plating and he was obviously barely on his feet. He had no clan markings and his armor carried a Blue Suns insignia. Garrus kept his weapons raised until he lifted his hands.

"I'm wounded and unarmed."

He stepped carefully down the pre-fab steps keeping his hands lifted. Each step looked painful. Decima stepped forward, a Mediterranean in one hand. She glanced and Garrus for permission and after a long moment he nodded at her and lowered his weapon.

His second in command stepped forward and helped the mercenary to a crate to treat his wounds.

"Anyone else in there?"

"No, I was wounded in the initial attack. I don't think anyone else survived," the merc winced and Decima scowled at him.

"Hold still. Don't be a child," she barked. Combat medic she might be, but her patience had always run thin. She had seen much worse than a few simple bullet wounds during the war they had fought together on earth.

Garrus gestured to the human biotic to search the shed, before returning his gaze to the merc, "tell me what happened here."

"There was nothing, everything was normal, and then suddenly those geth attacked. They slaughtered us."

Garrus hummed in thought, "You ran?"

"We tried to fight. I was the last one left alive."

Decima stepped back from him, "A clean wound. He'll need a doctor, but for now he'll be fine."

Garrus nodded, "Good."

Kaidan emerged from the shed holding a crate of bullets. "Commander, there's a hard suit in there for an asari. It's taken a couple scuffs, but there was hardly any dust on it. Not much blood either."

The mercenary glanced around, he was confronted with two stern looking turians and biotic male who was leaning against a pre-fab, arms folded.

"Coincidentally," Garrus said conversationally, "We're looking for an asari. Archaeologist by the name of Liara T'soni. You wouldn't happen to have seen her?"

The merc scowled, "I know her. We gave her a place to stay and she stole my property and left in the confusion."

"Oh did she?" Kaidan said, a nasty smile twisting up part of his mouth.

The merc glanced back at the human, "don't be insolent slave."

Kaidan bowed his head in an apology he obviously didn't mean. Garrus could tell by the way the corner of his lip was still turned upwards. While he would normally insist on maintaining some semblance of the status quo in turian society, he found himself despising this man.

"You allow your humans too much freedom."

Garrus shrugged, "maybe."

"The asari are too softhearted," the merc spat, "she trespassed on this planet and she stole three of my slaves. "While I limped for cover I saw them make a run for it."

Neither Kaidan nor Decima looked convinced. Garrus couldn't help but think the merc was likely leaving out some vital facts. Finally he just shook his head, body language letting the merc know of his skepticism, "We'll be sure to keep an eye out for your property."

Kaidan tossed him a an ammo mod as they headed out, "armor piercing." He hesitated, "something doesn't add up here."

Garrus nodded, "If the asari is alive like he says, I'm sure she'll be more than willing to clear it up."

"Sure would love to hear her side of the story," Decima added.

Garrus held up a hand for silence. They were approaching the dig site. In front of the dig platform were drones and a few crumpled geth. There was another figure on top. When Garrus recognized it as Nihlus he stepped back, mandibles quivering in surprise, "This just got even more complicated."

Decima knelt beside the body, "shot in the back. Wasn't even expecting it."

"I have a hard time picturing a geth getting the drop on Nihlus."

"I think our asari passed through here," Kaidan said. He was standing beside the platform, looking up the hill. "She wasn't alone, might be humans, there's some red blood here. Maybe another turian too. These boots don't belong to any human at least and they're headed the wrong way for the SpecTRe."

As if on cue there was a cry from up the hill. Someone screamed over the ensuing gunshots.

Garrus unholstered his weapon, "Move it. I'm not losing that doctor." Without her they might not know where the beacon was. Plus, the last thing the hierarchy needed was to lose the daughter of the Matriarch Benezia. Cast in the wrong light that could be an act of war between the turians and the asari.

The scene at the top of the hill wasn't immediately clear. The area was swarmed by creatures that Garrus could only suspect were caught somewhere between life and death. Their black skin was lit with strange blue lighting and they appeared to be nothing but muscle and ligament stretched across bare white bones. Two woman and an asari were caught in their midst. One of the woman was surrounded by a biotic corona as she maintained a barrier over the group while fighting, the asari cowered behind her, occasionally peeling off a shot with her stiletto. The second woman was using her Omni-blade with surprising efficiency, and yet, was being over run between the melee attackers and the geth aiming shots from prefab cover. As they hit the top of the hill and joined the fray, the biotic field the first human had maintained around her finally shattered under the impact.

Garrus could see the desperation on her face as one of the husks finally found a grip and hit her with a series of vicious punches. The woman screamed as she went down.

The biotic didn't see them, she was focused on the woman, being pulled under. With a cry of rage she charged, shotgun out. Body parts exploded around her as the husks blew to pieces beneath her onslaught.

What she hadn't seen was the geth assassin on the rocks behind her. A shock trooper was running forward and her barrier hadn't yet flickered back to life. Garrus lined up a shot and pulled the trigger. The assassin clattered to the ground in a heap of useless machinery. The shock trooper hung suspended in a warp field from Kaiden. Decima was already aiming and firing at it.

The biotic looked back at them, the corona fading from around her body. Garrus led his team forward a dozen feet before sending Decima ahead to look for further attackers, and Kaidan back to watch their flank.

Out of immediate danger the surviving human rushed to where her comrade had fallen. One hand pressed over her mouth she looked over the body her friend. Even from here Garrus could see there was too much blood for the woman to be alive. He reached them then, and spared the bodies a glance before he offered a hand to the asari. "Doctor Liara T'soni?"

_She ran away with my property._ That was how the turian phrased it.

Those words made a lot more sense now. But it was worth asking, who had actually run away with who?

The asari took his hand and got to her feet. "Yes. Thank you."

"I'm Commander Vakarrian. You're safe now. Are you injured?"

"No. I- I am fine." She was in shock. Garrus could hear the slight tremor in her voice and see the way her pale blue eyes couldn't seem to focus. Pity. He wouldn't have passed up the chance to add another biotic to his squad, but she was in no condition at the moment. His job was to return her to her mother.

"Decima."

The turian had returned and jogged over to him, "Sir?"

"I'm paging the shuttle. Get the good doctor loaded up and back to the ship. See to it she receives medical care. Send me a nav-point for the beacon."

"The beacon," the asari lifted a hand to her forehead, "I think- maybe the shuttle pad."

"Good," he said. "Everything's going to be alright doctor. We'll take it from here."

He turned, one problem handled. Although if the biotic wasn't combat ready, he'd have to call Decima back. That delay wouldn't do. Hopefully his instincts were on point.

The biotic woman was standing now, breathing heavily as she looked down at the bodies of her former teammates. She turned and, for the first time, seemed to truly register their presence.

"Sir," she sank to a knee, one hand clamped over her heart. His stomach churned with disgust. "On your feet. Don't do that."

She stood and he took a moment to study her. She was short for a human and built athletically, with a liberal amount of muscle in her shoulders and thighs. She was dressed impractically for the situation at hand in scuffed leather armor, like something from a history book.

She was among the Dometia, he realized as he looked at her tattoos, the young biotics that compromised the original promise to the blue suns for help in the war. When the counsel discovered what had been done with the children, heavier restrictions had been imposed, but that was over a decade later.

The Dometia had permanent tattoos, always on their faces, and sometimes down their arms signifying their origin, abilities, and status with their owners. He could make out a trail of blue markings where her shoulder pauldrons ended and her gauntlets began. Nowadays humans had paint, and rarely wore clan markings outside of formal events. There weren't many Dometia left. A lot of them had died, or been killed. The ones who survived were tough but had a reputation of being unusually violent and unpredictable. He had wondered himself, if it wasn't more merciful to put them out of their misery, but looking at her…

It was undeniable this human had fought hard to survive. Garrus wondered if he had misjudged the situation. After all, he had never actually met a Dometia. The mercs had wisely kept them out of sight once the council had caught wind of them.

This one appeared to have a fairly good control of herself though. She wasn't what he'd call healthy-He didn't know a lot about humans, but she looked much to skinny for a biotic and she was pale and sweating. A trickle of blood ran from her nose. Biotic overdraw, he realized, and she was injured already from the tender way she carried herself. She had a biotic locking device on her neck- a slim silver collar that hooked into her amp in the back- but the power light was out indicating it wasn't on. Well, that and the fact that she had been obviously making use of her biotics earlier.

He glared at her. He needed her fighting. Best to leave the soft stuff for someone else for now. If she was truly Dometia, she would know quite a bit about brutal turians. If she was a fighter in the arena, as he suspected, she may know more than he did about how bad a turian gone bad could be. She'd respond better to authority than comfort in both cases.

"Sitrep."

The human's eyes darted right to left as though she was reading something behind him. Decima had paused in the care she was providing for the asari. He could see the question in her eyes.

Are you sure about this?

He was not, but when the human spoke her voice was clear and firm. "Sir. We were headed to the beacon to secure it per Doctor T'soni's orders when we were overrun. There were two others with us but"- her eyes darted to the woman on the ground and the boy beside her, "they didn't make it."

That was a clear enough statement, but there were a lot of missing details.

"Know anything about a dead turian back there?"

The human looked uncomfortable and shifted nervously. Once again her eyes darted to Liara. Garrus followed her gaze, eyes narrowed.

The asari broke, "It's my fault, commander."

He stayed silent.

"I took pity on them when I saw them in the arena. When the geth attacked I…" she hesitated, "I broke their chains and helped them leave in exchange for getting me to the beacon."

"I see."

He turned back to the woman, "Is this true?" The woman looked up at him from beneath her lashes, her posture demonstrating deference and respect. Her eyes were a strange shade of light green he had never seen before. It was undeniable that she was sizing him up. Smart.

He wondered just how deferent he truly was- humans didn't have tell-tale sub-vocals. They were, in general, better liers than turians and she didn't have any reason to tell him the truth. The asari's story might be true, or perhaps the human was only using the Doctor. For all he knew, she could have told both of them whatever they wanted to hear.

She was making a play for her freedom. He was nearly positive. She still hadn't said anything and he let the impatience he felt show in his sub-vocals, "Well?"

She met his eyes, surprising him with her forward ness-he saw the exhaustion in her, both physical and mental, "more or less."Not quite an answer.

"And I take it you saw the turian back there," he asked casually, "You know, the dead one. Know anything?"

This time the human didn't hesitate, "I didn't kill him. He was just… standing there, looking around. I was hiding but close because I was afraid he was going to," she shook her head, "it doesn't matter. I should have helped him. There was another one, Saren, he called himself- it looked like they knew each other until-" she hesitated again, "until Saren shot him."

"And you just hid." Garrus narrowed his eyes. She was holding something back, even now. Despite the courage she had displayed before, she shrank ever so slightly and he was aware of how aware she was that he held her life in his hand. He could smell the fear and exhaustion on her even above the stench of death in this place.

"I did," she exhaled, "I don't want to die here on this planet. Not like this. Like some varren caught in a trap." She hesitated, "Sir."

Well, there was an honest answer. He could hardly blame her for that. "What's your name?" His sub-vocals were humming a note of reassurance.

"Mara," She said, "Mara Shepard." Caution radiated from her body language, but she relaxed ever so slightly, hearing the hum.

"Shepard," his expression softened, "Let's make a deal. Fight for me today and I'll do everything I can to keep you from dying here."

There was a long pause as the woman thought. Then she nodded once and snapped to attention. It was a modification of the kneeling position, head down and hand clasped to her chest. It wasn't a military salute, but he doubted she had spent much time around official hierarchy military.

"Just point at what you want dead, commander."

Well, he could work on proper military behavior later. She had spunk. He couldn't help but like her.

Garrus nodded to himself and called Kaidan back from guarding their flank "There should be some supplies around here. See if you can get Shepard here," he gestured at the biotic, "kitted out and fixed up. I want her as close to fighting shape as possible." He gave her another once over, "see if you can get the collar off her."

* * *

Kaidan found a guard shed and hacked open the door. The woman stood awkwardly behind him, arms crossed over her chest. She looked exhausted, ready to collapse. The door slid open and he peeked inside.

"Empty, c'mon."

She followed him in, falling heavily onto a chair inside. He dug into a side pocket and found a nutrient bar, "Here, eat something."

She dug in too vigorously, as if she were half starved, and he found himself wishing he had carried more than one spare on him. In just a few seconds the bar was gone. He tossed her his canteen and she took a long swig, swished it around and spat on the floor of the pre-fab. She repeated the gesture once more and then drank deeply.

"Thank you," she said after she finished, wiping the back of her mouth with a hand.

"Yeah," he said, "there's more food back at the ship after we find that beacon."

She nodded. Another awkward beat.

"Kaiden," he said, holding out a hand, "Kaiden Alenko."

She shook his hand, "Mara Shepard."

"Let's see what we can find for you Mara."

He dug through the metal crates until he found one that would work, "semi-adjustable, medium weight, reinforced barrier support, impact absorbing, auto medi-gel injector" he read out loud, "this should work." He cracked open the crate, "even has mesh. If the Commander keeps you onboard permanently he'll fit you out for something custom eventually."

She blinked as if she hadn't considered any of that, then nodded.

"Are you injured?"

She hesitated, "I think I cracked a rib. Bumps and bruises, she touched her face where there was a slick sheen of medi-gel. "Think my nose is busted." Kaidan nodded, and dug through a first-aid kit. "Put that under the mesh layer, around your ribs." He studied the injury on her eye and nose carefully. She had obviously taken a couple hard hits. When he reached to touch her she flinched backwards, "I'll be fine."

He gave her another critical look, then shrugged.

Mara started to shed the archaic armor she as wearing. Kaidan coughed uncomfortably as she stripped off the chestplate and turned quickly to the back of the pre-fab, pretending to study the contents of cabinet critically. She certainly wasn't shy. There was a rustle of clothing.

"Uh," the woman said after a long moment, "can you zip this up?"

"Yeah," he turned back, "yeah, sorry." She was dirty and her skin was tacky with sweat. Where the fabric parted for the zipper he could see her skin criss-crossed by scars and mottled by purple bruises. She probably did have a broken rib. Maybe more than one. The sight of her vertebrate, skin stretched taught across them was painful proof of how hungry she had been kept. He could feel his cheeks flush with anger. This woman had endured harsh treatment for a long time. It wasn't right.

He had belonged to Garrus Vakarian since Brain Camp. He had emerged from that hell alive but scathed. Half the turians had been afraid of the biotic powerful enough to bring down a veteran like Vyrnus. Garrus had shown up, long after the other kids from Brain Camp had departed with new turian masters and taken him and Joker. Life with Garrus had been fairly simple compared to whatever this girl had been through. Life hadn't been too complicated, even under the rule of a foreign regime. He had heard a few horror stories here and there, but never seen any proof they were real.

Despite everything he couldn't help but notice the way her amber colored skin contrasted with her raven toned hair and the graceful curve of her neck as she ran a hand across it, brushing the wisps at her neck out of the way of the zipper. He fumbled with with the tab a moment before he pulled it shut

_Note to self,_ He thought ruefully, _Get some damn shore leave._

He started to hand her armor pieces, "any tingling? Chills?" That could be the first sign of severe overdraw. Tissue breakdown was no joke.

"Both," she said, "I'll be fine, I've been worse. I'll lay off the charges and novas and stick to barriers."

"Sure," he said tightening the seal on her chest piece, "but the last thing we need is you going into shock or seizing during a fight."

"That won't happen."

Kaiden shrugged, "You sound like you know what you're doing then." He tilted his chin towards the weapons she had set in the corner "You know how to use those."

Mara gave him a derisive look, "I'm not carrying them for fun."

Kaiden chuckled, "Good. I'll see if we can find you a pistol in here too." He pulled up his omni-tool, "First though," he hesitated, "mind if I…?"

She leaned her head to the right baring her neck and revealing the control box of her collar. There was slight scar on her cheek below her tattoos. It cut through her upper lip, causing the skin to be slightly lighter.

He brought up the Ariake tech electronic banking suite and topped at the console. Find the lockout device and disable it, scramble the coil connection, send a faulty reading through the latch circuitry and, there we go.

The collar popped open and Mara sighed in relief. The skin of her neck was covered in small callouses from the collar and a few raw tender spots. She reached a hand up and touched it gingerly, then dabbed some medi-gel from the first-aid kit beside her on the worst of it. From the thin band of paler skin, she hadn't been out of the collar very often.

She stood, shifting her shoulders to crack her back, and nodded, "Ok, let's do this."

He nodded, "I'll hook in your hard suit." He sent a hail to the commander requesting to add hardsuit data to the ground team, designation ShepardM. The reply from the commander was almost immediate and he pulled up team data to verify. A set of stats for himself and the commander popped up. Her bio stats were mostly normal, slightly elevated heart rate and blood pressure, but well within specifications.

"Shepard, com check," he said, not looking at her.

"Loud and clear." Her voice came from beside him and from the microphone in his ear. In front of him a line charted her audio input. He noticed the slight static on her input feed and reduced the noise.

"Aye," He flipped to the next screen, "check your shield generator." He glanced over, but she was already pulling up the console and hitting the test. Her shields glinted to life in a semicircle of blue.

He altered her shield inputs. Biotic humans used their amps to feed their shields and give them a boost. Between her malnourishment and the fact that she had obviously been burning eezo too hard for a long time, he decided to lean off her amp a bit so she didn't wear out. They were still going to have to fight their way to the tram and them from the tram to the shuttle bay.

Hopefully she knew enough to throttle back her power usage.

"Ready?" He asked her. She nodded once. She reached to her chest and punched the button to expand the pneumatically collapsing helmet. Before she put it on he caught sight of her eyes. She looked- he couldn't quite place the expression- lost, maybe. Remembering the bodies outside he patted her shoulder, "I'm sorry about your friends."

"Yeah," she sucked in a breath, "well. We'll get the bastards, huh?"

He nodded once and led her back into the dim green light of Gladius.

When they emerged, Decima was loading the doctor into a shuttle, she turned at the last moment, "Commander, are you sure about this?"

Her eyes flitted across the two humans critically.

Commander Vakarian turned and glanced backwards at them. He studied them for a brief minute and then turned back to his second in command, "we'll be fine. Clear out space in the cargo bay and standby for our hail once we secure the beacon. I want this off this planet as quickly as possible.

Beside him Kaidan could feel the air around Mara stiffen, as if she were ready to flare. Staying on her good side seemed to involve never doubting her skills. Or maybe it was the turians, he doubted there were any tender feelings between her and the turian military.

The shuttle took off and the Commander turned back to them, "Let's move out. The tram's not far."

Shepard paused, glancing at the two bodies off to the side, then nodded once to herself and trotted after Commander Vakarian. He followed them.

The tram station was as overrun as Kaiden had feared. The Commander put them in cover and signaled Shepard to move up and get an idea of numbers. He waited beside the commander, occasionally monitoring Shepard's life signs, she seemed to be recharging and improving as he'd expect.

"What do you think?"

Kaiden glanced up. The turian was looking at him out of the corner of his eye. His relationship with Vakarian was a complicated one. On the one hand, he was owned. It's not like he could pack up and head out when he wanted. On the other hand, he liked the Commander. They had developed a decent rapport over the years, and he had always occupied a favored place on the ship as a member of the ground crew. He got a decent amount of downtime, and even a few creds in his pocket. It wasn't entirely unusual to end up in a conversation like this with the Commander, who kept a fairly casual relationship with the crew, human and otherwise.

"I think she's tough," he said finally.

"But?"

He hesitated, remembering the way the woman had flinched away from him, her scars, and the anger she was obviously pushing down anytime a turian was in eyesight. "She's been through a lot."

"Yeah," the commander sounded thoughtful, "I want to look into acquiring her for the crew. You'll keep an eye on her though?" It was a question, but Kaiden knew a command when he heard one.

"Yes sir."

"I want to know everything we can about her. See if you can look into her background. Get me a report as soon as you can."

He nodded.

Shepard was heading back towards them, head down. She ducked down beside them, "there's about ten shock troopers, a prime, and two destroyers. I couldn't get close to the actual tram, but I think there's at least the same on board."

"Good work," the commander said, "How are you feeling?"

The human grinned wolfishly, "ready for some payback sir."

"Go in tough. Hit them hard and we'll cover you from the back. Show me what you can do."

"Yes sir," Shepard said, she cracked her knuckles. Vakarian caught her attention with a motion, "Don't overdraw. Fall back when you hit your limit."

She nodded in affirmation and headed out, Kaiden and Vakarian a few steps behind.

Mara Shepard was a skilled biotic, Kaiden had to admit. The turian military had long since made an art of training human biotics. Stay back, hold barriers, send out strategic attacks to set up the soldiers and infiltrators. Shepard hadn't received that training. She was a one woman artillery strike, moving with unprecedented speed and using cover less as shelter and more as a temporary pause to recover her shield strength. With his biotic attacks to set her up and the Commanders covering fire, she maneuvered around the area too fast for the Geth to catch before she was hitting them or raising her shotgun. He had never seen anything like it.

When the Prime showed up she ducked behind cover, cursing over the com channel.

He glanced over at Vakarian who was lining up a shot through his rifle, and aimed an overload at the Geth's shields. It paused, shield wall flickering and Shepard darted towards it, comically small, but already glowing with biotic power, she aimed a pull at it and the machine collapsed in on itself. She ducked and rolled under the machine and landed on the other side.

"Let's keep up the pressure," Vakarian ordered as he motioned Kaiden to follow him forward. "rendezvous at the tram."

When they caught up with Shepard she was sweating. She still looked pale, but now she was grinning. On her, it was a savage looking expression. "Good to be winning against these guys,. Nothing like payback," she said to Kaiden. He nodded and smiled back. "Let's go get that tram."

Taking the tram turned out to be a simple matter. There was plenty of cover and they moved up systematically, taking out Geth as they went.

By the time they hit the front all three were breathing heavily. The Commander hit the control console and Shepard collapsed down in a seat near the front.

The tram shuddered and headed off towards the dig site and Vakarian turned, "Everyone ok?"

Kaiden nodded, "all good here sir."

"Not sure what we'll run into at the shuttle pad," Vakarian said. "Be ready, they don't want us getting our hands on that beacon."

Shepard snorted, "let's kick some ass."

The Commander nodded, making the turian approximation of a smile.

Kaiden pulled up a list of records on his Omni-tool and idly started sorting through them, scanning them for her name. Upon capture the Blue Suns had been required to generate medical records on all humans. Then the turian government had tagged them with serial numbers. Over the years there had been a lot of people that slipped through the cracks, but with luck he could trace her through that.

He found a few likely files and flagged them for perusal. The tram was breaking, hitting the shuttle bay stop.

"Uh, Kaiden?"

He glanced over and grimaced.

"Oh shit."

Sitting beside the stop was a bomb.

"Shepard, we're covering him."

"Right."

Considering any one of these bombs could have destroyed everything in the area it was overkill to have five, but that appeared to be exactly what the Geth had done. This was a dog fight. They were lucky to have a vanguard on their side. She manipulated the close combat situations well, moving gracefully from enemy to enemy.

He noticed the Commander wasn't blind to it either. There was a glint of admiration in his eyes when he glanced at her.

They took the bombs down one by one. Kaiden checked his Omni-tool, "one left."

"Through that," the commander gestured at a destroyer.

Shepard pulled out her shotgun. "If you make a break for it, I'll catch up when that things down."

Vakarian nodded, "I'll get your six Shepard."

She looked at him sharply, but Kaiden couldn't read her expression. Then she said, "I can take it."

The commander shifted uncomfortably, then finally nodded. "Take it down, Shepard."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth Shepard was out from behind cover and aiming. The destroyer seemed to focus in on her. She gave a scream of rage and ran towards it, ducking and rolling under one giant arm at the last moment as she aimed the shotgun at the back of the machine.

Vakarian patted his shoulder, "she's got this. Go."

He heard the sharp sound of her shotgun firing twice and another shout from her through the comms as he dashed past the fight and slid into cover behind the last bomb. He could see the timer blinking on the console. Just a few seconds left. He studied the circuitry, his hacking suite moving with speed but somehow feeling all too slow.

Ten

Search for decryption algorithm and code map to the device

Nine

ID the shutdown circuitry and upload the the code, being careful not to activate the decryption alert system

Eight

Loading, loading, loading.

Seven

He let out a long breath of relief when it chirped in success, and the numbers blinked and then disappeared.  
There was a long creak of metal and he heard Shepard give a shout of excitement. "The destroyers down." He glanced down at the squad readout and saw her blood pressure elevated again. She was leaning too hard on her biotics. If she was like most biotics, she'd be paying for this later. He'd be down for the count with a migraine right now. Obviously she wasn't an L3. Still, he doubted she'd be up for much of anything once the adrenaline wore out.

"Meet us at the landing pad," Vakarian ordered her.

"Got it."

There were a few easily dispatched husks wandering the sight, but other than that, the area was empty. The beacon towered nearby, a headache of alien architecture. Just looking at it made Kaiden shudder. He holstered his weapon, but walked the perimeter ensuring the area would remain clear.

Closer to the beacon Vakarian was pulling up his Omni-tool paging the shuttle their location.

Kaiden turned as Shepard jogged up, sweat dripping down her forehead and dampening her hair. There was a smear of blood under her nose again. Obviously she wasn't taking advice or orders on holding back.

"Is that the thing?" She pointed a finger at the beacon and he glanced over his shoulder, then regretted it.

"Looks like it."

She nodded, then asked carefully, "do you really think he's going to get me out of here?"

Kaiden tilted his head, realizing she was talking about Vakarian, "I haven't known him to lie."

She seemed to think about this, "I don't know if my owner will-," she hesitated, focusing on something behind him. Then she dashed suddenly past him, grabbing him by the shoulders just long enough to push him aside.

Kaiden stumbled and turned. The commander must have been studying the beacon and now it appeared the thing had caught him in some kind of force field. He was being pulled towards it and struggling against it. Shepard dashed towards him, shoving him back. In a moment the beacon had caught her up in it instead. Off balance, she barely managed to fight as she was lifted into the air. Her back arched, head towards the sky.

She stayed that way, silhouetted against the sky. The commander had pushed himself into a sitting position and was looking up in horror. He got to his feet and took a step towards Shepard, towards the beacon. And then in a flash of blinding light the beacon exploded and threw Shepard down. She flopped onto the ground like a rag doll, landing limply on her side.

Commander Vakarian reached her first with Kaiden hot on his heels.

She was breathing, but beneath her eyelids her eyes were roaming back and forth, as if she were caught in the grip of a nightmare.


	5. Of Frying Pans and Fires

**A/N: **_I've decided to include some bits of Mara's back story here and there. In doing so, I realized I needed to tweak the timeline to create the slightly young woman I picture Mara to be (25 instead of 30ish). _

_While this story skews Shenko at the moment I have a fairly long character arc planned. At the risk of giving away too much, expect plot twists._

_Thanks for reading. You can't imagine what it means to me, to know people are enjoying this story. I'd also love to hear from you, if you've the time._

**Terra Nova**

**2162**

"Cal, wake up."

The man rolled over and groaned, "uggh, isn't it your turn?"

Hannah Shepard smiled, despite the clear anxiety clouding her otherwise delicate features. She was short, but skinny and dressed in a hard suit.

When Calvin Shepard saw his wife in full armor he sat up quickly, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Hannah, what's going on? The kids-"

His wife smiled, smoothing a hand over his head, running it through his curly hair, "Fine, they're ok. But you need to take them and go."

"What?"

Cal swung his legs over the side of the bed and pushed himself up to sit next to his wife. "What's going on?"

"They're coming."

"When?"

"Soon. We just got word from the perimeter. Right before they went dark."

Cal rubbed a hand across his forehead again, "Liam was out there." He had seen Liam just a few hours back. They had known each other for years, since they had moved their families out here at the same time. And now he was, what? Dead? Captured?

Hannah sighed, "yeah." She hesitated, leaning her head briefly against her husbands shoulder. She sighed, inhaling his scent of aftershave and sharp soap. She let out the breath and stood, all business suddenly, "they're evacuating the colony. You need to take John and Mara and get out."

Cal reached for his pants, "okay. What about you?"

"I'm guarding the spaceport, covering the exit. I'll meet you at the spaceport."

Cal looked up, halfway dressed, "No, Hannah, you- you can't leave us." He crossed the small room in a stride and put his hands on her shoulders. "come with us."

She shook her head, "They won't get you out without someone covering your ass." She stood on tiptoes, pressing a kiss to his lips. He held her there for a moment, relishing the solid, warm feel of her. She broke the kiss, pressing her forehead to his a moment.

"Cal, please. We've known this could happen for a while."

"I thought we had time."

"Me too," Hannah pulled away and squared her shoulders, "I'll get the kids."

She walked softly down the dark hallways, wishing there was a way to bring something. One of the photo albums maybe. Something for Mara and John to remember these years where they had been happy. She didn't know what the future held, but she knew she would likely never be in here again.

They had come to this world seeking a better life. Somewhere far from Earth's pollution, with employment and plenty of room for the kids to run free. And then the aliens had appeared from nowhere. They had superior technology, an armada of ships, and all across the newly discovered galaxy, colonies were going dark.

The kids room was dark. Mara was asleep, one arm over her face, snoring gently. John slept in a bed across the room on his belly.

Despite being five and a self professed "big girl" Mara's limbs wrapped around her mother and she dug her head into Hannah's shoulders, attempting to remain awake even as Hannah placed her on her feet.

Mara blinked sleepily, "Mom?"

"C'mon baby. Daddy and you and John are going on a trip to see Grandma and Gramps."

Mara yawned as Hannah pulled a hoodie over her head. She was still in sweatpants. It would have to do.

"What about you?" Her daughter asked, blinking tiredly.

"I'll meet you there okay, baby." She placed a kiss on Mara's hand. She glanced over, Cal was already holding John. The five year old had woken up only long enough to dig his head into John's neck.

Hannah walked over, kissed her son's cheek and met Cal's eyes.

"Keep them safe."

"Don't you die."

She nodded, then knelt next to Mara, "stay next to daddy. Don't let him out of your site."

Mara nodded and threw her arms around her, "Don't want to leave you."

Hannah savored it for a brief moment and then took her by the shoulders, "I'll be fine. I'll be right behind you. But now you need to be my strong girl, okay?"

Mara nodded and Hannah stood, nodded firmly at her husband.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too. Always."

In the night Cal set John on the ground and knit his and Mara's fingers together. "Hold your brothers hands as tight as you can and run to the spaceport. I'll be right behind you okay." Mara nodded. The colony was small. It would only be a fifteen minute walk if they lived in town, but they had settled on the edges, a few miles away. In the darkness, he could see Hannah disappear down a path towards the perimeter outpost. They were alone. He stayed a pace behind Mara, ears open. Under his shirt the cool metal of the gun he had tucked away felt comforting.

He listened closely and heard something in the darkness. Something he suspected wasn't human.

Someone- _something- _was stalking them.

He picked up the pace.

"Mara," his daughter turned, her hazel eyes wide with fear.

He took a long breath, "Don't let go of your brother's hand," he glanced back, "you know the way?"

She nodded.

"Then go. Run as fast as you can." He tried to smile, "I'll race you there."

"Daddy…" Tears were building up in her eyes. He put a hand on her cheek, "This is one of those times you need to do what I tell you and not ask questions. _Don't _ let go of your brother."

Mara's eyes narrowed with determination and she nodded, and then she took off running. Cal loped after them a moment, letting his children gain the lead and then turned, gun drawn.

Out of the shadows stepped something tall and lanky. It was shaped _wrong. _He couldn't see it's eyes through the helmet. He reached for his pistol taking a step or two backwards.

Suddenly the barriers in the aliens hardsuit flared as it was hit by hail of bullets. His wife's voice filled his ears and he caught sight of her kneeling on a pre-fab's roof.

"Run, Cal!"

He looked from her to the alien. Every instinct screamed at him to defend his home. But his children, he could just see the white hoodie Mara wore disappearing down the road. With a groan of agony he turned and followed her and John.

He could hear his wife shouting at the thing, taunting it, leading it from his position. Eventually her voice faded.

At the space port, he found them. John was clinging to Mara, tears streaking his cheeks. Mara was holding it together now, though her forehead was creased with worry. When she saw him, she peeled John off of her and pointed, "told you he'd be here."

Cal gathered both of his children in his arms and held them until they were herded onto a shuttle. Shuttle after shuttle was taking off from the pad. Surely Hannah had to be on one of them. She wouldn't die. She had promised him. He allowed himself to be loaded into a relief vessel for the ride to the alliance ship in orbit.

Mara would remember the ride back to earth on the SSV London as an adult. It was fourteen hours crammed into a cargo bay with little ventilation. When they staggered into the sunlight on the New York City docks, Cal's parents were there, but Hannah was gone.

* * *

_Mara ran, holding tightly to John's hand. _

"_Where's momma?" He was asking, trying to twist away. She gripped harder, her knuckles going pale and he whimpered, "hurting me."_

"_Gotta run Johnny." She said, "gotta be quiet, ok?"_

_He didn't listen. She kept dragging him forward._

_There were eyes and silhouettes in the night. She could see them. To tall, and wrong looking. It's limbs all a mess. _

_She ran as a fast as she could, dragging John behind her and not looking back. It was dark, too dark, she couldn't see, but she kept running anyways until she stumbled and fell into the smoke filled streets. She coughed violently and looked around._

_John. Where was John?_

"_John!" She screamed his name into the smoke filled city and staggered to her feet. There was a boot with blood and a limb still inside it. She looked at it numbly and staggered forward, screaming for John again._

_Nearby fires were raging in the debris. There were people screaming in pain. She passed a man half crushed beneath the rubble. He called out to her for help and she looked at him for a moment before continuing forward. Her lungs hurt too badly to scream now. Step after step. Tears blurred her vision and she fought to breathe. _

_From out of the smoke a figure materialized, then another and another. A whole army of them. She found she had just enough breath for one more scream of terror._

_From behind, something snatched her up into the air. _

_Everything was shrinking and she saw her city on fire, like a map spread before her. She could hear the people in it crying out in agony. Buildings burned with people still inside. There were the sounds of gunshots. She could hear the muffled sounds of people trapped in the remains of bombed buildings as they succumbed to their wounds waiting for a rescue that wouldn't come She zoomed farther out, seeing the world, then the planet, then the galaxy. Another plant caught fire, and then another. _

_The screaming grew in pitch and agony. _

_Mara was floating now somewhere above the galaxy; she was screaming back. Her body was arched into a painful bend, and something was keeping her from being able to close her eyes to what she was seeing and they brimmed with tears of pain and fear. _

_One by one the lights of the galaxy blinked out, the screams silenced- all of them- all except hers._

_There was nothing left but the cold light of the stars to answer her cries._

_They are coming, something said from the darkness, they are coming._

_A thousand voices joined in drowning her out._

_**They are coming, they are coming to destroy you.**_

* * *

**Normandy**

**2182**

"Alright," Garrus leaned against the bulkhead of the medbay and crossed his arms over his chest, "Brief me."

"Sure you don't have more paperwork?" Kaiden teased lightly as he pulled a data pad from his pocket, "Maybe some diplomat to harass?"

Obtaining Mara Shepard had been more difficult then expected and substantial roadblocks had presented themselves. Mara Shepard might have once been deeded to the Blue Suns, but two years ago she had been sold to Argus Haslen, ostensibly, as a bodyguard.

Liara T'soni had shed some further light on the truth of that. He doubted Mara Shepard had seen much of anything outside the Pits. Based on Shepard's injuries, Garrus had maintained to all authorities that she should stay aboard the Normandy, at least until she regained consciousness. The hierarchy had granted that much, and Doctor T'soni had helped with the rest. It was entirely possible whatever was in that beacon had ended up in Shepard's head. That being the case, until that was proven false, or conversely, whatever information she had was given to the proper authorities, he had authorization to keep her aboard.

To pacify Argus, who had been less then pleased, Garrus had sent him enough credits to keep his mouth shut. It had worked… moderately well. He doubted the merc would stay pacified forever. But for now, the paperwork is over. Time to figure out just what kind of human this Dometia was. He'd worry about keeping her later.

"Paperwork's done for now, Alenko."

Lucien Sulicus, the medical doctor leaned back in his chair, "You might regret this, Commander."

"Why do you say that?"

Kaiden cleared his throat, getting the attention of both turians. "Broad strokes first. Captured in New York in early 2163, she probably showed signs of biotic potential pretty early. There's a record of her being outfitted with an L3 era implant."

"And then nothing until she was sold to Argus two years ago, but there's evidence of some pretty extensive medical alterations," Lucien cut in, "she-"

"Can I finish?"

Garrus shifted his attention to Kaiden. The doctor looked displeased for a moment, but held his peace.

"Her tattoos can tell us something," he said, "Some we know the meaning of; the rest-well, Doctor T'soni cracked the code.

The asari, who had been leaning over Shepard re-checking some of the wound dressings straightened, "Ah, yes. It was simple really.I found some fairly extensive records kept by the Blue Suns and cross referenced them with traditional Turian markings.

"And-" Garrus waved a hand gently to encourage her.

"And," Liara said, 'her markings indicate she was captured in New York, she's a biotic of some power and a fighter of great skill. Her arm tattoos seem to be saying that she's fought and won multiple battles against rebel human colonies and was promoted to a prominent position, for a human." The doctor pulled up a graph, paging through the markings. "Several thousand Dometia were given to the Blue Suns including several hundred biotics. They were dispersed among four turian led factions. Her faction was headed by a turian named Mettus Tantius. It's probable she answered directly to him."

Kaiden nodded, "Right, and if that's the case she probably had some control over herself and discipline. You'd have to be smart to stay ahead in that environment"

Garrus nodded, " could be."

He understood that Kaiden had taken an immediate liking to the woman. He had been advocating for her from the moment they were in the shuttle. If the popular belief was that Dometia were violent and out of control, Kaiden was going to try and prove that this one was different.

From the brief interactions that had on Gladius, Garrus had to admit, she didn't seem like anything he would have envisioned. She wasn't crazy at all, at least, no more so than any other biotic he had met.

He turned his head towards the doctor, "Ok, Dr. Sulicus, your turn."

The turian pulled up a three dimensional holographic display. Spreading it into three silhouettes displaying her muscular, skeletal, and nervous system separately. "She's had the crap beat out of her plenty of times."

"That your professional opinion doc?" Kaiden asked wryly.

Garrus smiled, "Well, she survived it. So she's tough."

"Look here," the doctor said, zooming in on the skeletal scan. "She's Had multiple fractures, remodeled now. There's evidence she's had procedures as well to increase her bone density and capacity for muscle growth.

"Some of those were pretty experimental up until a few years ago," Kaiden mused.

"Exactly," Dr. Salicus said, "She may be fine now, but unless you want to be responsible for any long term health defects…"

Garrus shrugged, "after we get the information from the beacon we'll figure that out." Secretly, he wanted her for his ground team. Still, he'd rather not make such a decisive and public statement until she woke up.

"There's something else too," The doctor brought up a medical chart. "In some early Dometia a drug dependency on something called Dust was induced. It's a purified version of Red Sand, particularly potent. She's still an addict. I took the liberty of stocking the drug, since you seem so determined to have her on board. I've kept her on a minimal dose."

"We can't just stop giving it to her?" Garrus asked.

"We can," the doctor said, "But there are side effects. Hallucinations, fever, loss of fine motor skills. It's similar to those in the early stages of addiction. Now that she's stable, it might be cruel to take it away." He shrugged, "In the end, it's up to you."

Garrus nodded, then let out a low hum, "they took a bunch of kids and put them on a hallucinogenic?"

Dr. Salicus nodded, "For at lease the first week their grip on reality would have been tenuous at best."

"They must have melted like butter. We should have kept a closer eye."

Lucien sighed, "In any case, those are the major issues, she's malnourished and beat up. None of those should come as any surprise but it's worth mentioning."

Garrus nodded, "well," he drawled thoughtfully, "I want to talk to her before I go deciding anything."

Dr T'soni looked nauseous, "she was nothing but a child and they turned her into an addict. Tortured her."

Garrus had to admit to a similar distaste. Here aboard his ship, he treated the human crew members as equally as possible. He and Kaiden had seen each other through enough tense situations that he trusted him.

Had his pilot, Joker, as well. Joker was likely the best pilot between both the humans and his people. When the Normandy itself had been conceived as a collaboration of human and turian designs, he had personally picked the best of the graduating pilots. Due to his species, Joker should be watching the autopilot on a cargo vessel somewhere. Instead he piloted the most advanced ship in the galaxy.

It was a good gesture, this ship. A sign to the rest of the galaxy that turians respected human ingenuity.

Shepard suddenly groaned, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

"I think she's waking up," Kaiden said.

Dr Salicus leaned over the hospital bed at the moment Kaiden said, "I'm not sure that's a good-."

Shepards hand came up, aiming a clumsy but powerful strike at the turian. Kaiden caught her hand mid-blow and put a restraining hand on her shoulder. The doctor took a step backwards. For a brief second Shepard fought Kaiden, trying to move. He let go of his wrist, putting his hand on her other shoulder. Garrus couldn't make out the words, but his tone was soothing.

Shepard groaned again and leaned back on the bed. She brought her hand up to her head more slowly this time. Kaiden took his hands off her carefully, but it was impossible to miss the wary glance she shot at the turian doctor.

Liara stepped forward, "Commander if I could have a moment with the patient," she didn't wait for him to respond, "doctor, I'll let you know if I need you, in the meantime, I recommend staying back."

The Doc's mandibles flared, "I'm the leading expert on human physiology on this vessel. I-"

Liara fixed him with a look worthy of a matriarch's daughter, "And she seems not to want you near her. I can't imagine why. Can you?"

Dr. Salicus sighed and took a few steps back, hands raised in surrender.

Garrus turned, "Doc, when she can answer some questions give me a call." He headed through the door, not waiting for a reply.

* * *

The nausea hit Mara first, as soon as her adrenaline fueled reaction had worn off. The biotic who had been holding her back when she first woke up noticed, "get a bucket."

Someone pushed a bucket into her arms and she heaved bile into it, then retched again. Her mouth felt gritty as she leaned back again. Her head pounded in agony and she struggled to maintain them open.

The human biotic- what was his name? Kaiden-she remembered, hovered nearby. Her brain felt as if it were working through thick fog. "Where?" She demanded, her voice thick.

"You are aboard Commander Vakarian's ship, The Normandy." She darted a glance at the asari who had spoken.

_T'soni_

Shepard took a quick stock of herself. Someone had undressed and cleaned her_. _She was clad in a thin cloth gown and nothing else. Her ribs still felt delicate, but less sore than they had been. She could breathe more easily than she had planetside.

She pressed a hand to her side and felt the cool padding of a medi-gel pack. Her other arm had a needle in it leading to an IV.

The asari moved herself to be within Shepard's field of vision, "How do you feel?" Her words were clear, but she was slow and cautious, obviously not willing to risk frightening her patient.

"I-," she coughed a fe times, her throat felt sore and bruised, "My head hurts."

Her voice still felt thick. She summoned some saliva and tried to moisten her lips. Liara noticed, "water, please Kaiden."

The pounding in her head was receding slowly but surely as she took a few long drinks through the straw. She glanced around the room. The ship was sleek and new looking with shiny metal bulkheads and decks. On the medical officers desk a holo-generator had displays of full body scans; hers, Shepard suspected.

It was clean and neat and Shepard couldn't help but wonder if she was in the wrong med-bay, but it appeared there was her bed and another empty one suited for humans.

A turian doctor leaned against the bulkhead across from her. He was the one who had scared her when she opened her eyes and she had gone on the defensive automatically. Her cheeks felt suddenly hot and her heart pounded, "I-I'm sorry-I-"

The turian held up a hand, "don't mention it." He didn't sound entirely sincere. She swallowed hard. The wrong word and she'd be labeled as vicious. They'd put a bullet in her for a label like that.

"Dr. T'soni," the turian said, "if you're satisfied I'd like to check on the human."

Liara met her eyes, and Shepard realized she was looking for her to consent. She gave a hesitant nod and Liara stepped back. "I'll be in my quarters if my aid is required doctor."

Nearby Kaiden hovered. She glanced over and he colored, "I'll standby outside," he said, "if the doc clears you I can show you where your quarters are."

He gave her a gentle smile, dark brown eyes soft.

Shepard gave him a nod and he left.

The doctor tapped at his Omni-tool and ran a short scan. "You were out for quite a while," he said conversationally.

"How long?"

"Nearly two days."

"Oh," Shepard put a hand to her head again trying to comprehend the time lapse. It had been two days since she had fought in the Pit, since Nirali and Jensen had died, since the beacon.

Nirali. She felt a stab of sorrow.

The beacon.

_They are coming._

"I- what happened to me?"

The doctor finished tapping and studied a readout, "you'd have to ask a ground crew for specifics. I know you were caught in the grip of alien technology that subsequently exploded. It was a bit touch and go when you arrived, but that was more due to…" he hesitated, "negligence of your personal health."

Shepard swallowed, "ah."

_Great. The thing I needed to save I accidentally destroyed. Wonderful. This can't end well for me._

"Otherwise," Dr. Salicus said, "you had some strange brain activity. It looked like an intense dream," The doctor gently disconnected her IV, "for now, your numbers look good. Get some food and plenty of rest, take it easy for a few days on your ribs." He walked to medicine cabinet and pulled out a bottle. Shepard watched him closely as he removed two pills and handed them to her.

Guessing what they were Shepard swallowed them dry. Her headache faded a bit more and she sighed in relief. "You'll be returning daily to me for your dose of dust," she could hear the distaste in his voice. "I'll check up on you tomorrow when you return."

"Yes sir."

Signaling her dismissal the turian sat down at the desk, focusing on something on the terminal.

"That said, Commander Vakarian wishes to speak to you, he said lightly."

She swallowed, "I see. I'll go to him immediately."

The turian waved a hand from where he had returned to the desk and now sat with his back to her, "no matter. I've no problem sacrificing my med-bay for this conversation. Just give me a moment." He paused and then said, "and, if you've a mind, there are clothes on the table beside you."

The clothes turned out to be loose canvas pants, a tank top, and zip-up sweater. There was a worn pair of sneakers as well. She hadn't seen any like them in ages, since she had left earth. The clothes were all slightly big and a little worn, but clean and comfortable.

She straightened to attention as the doors swung open.

Her first instinct was to drop to a knee when the commander walked in. It was the greeting Tantius and then Argus had expected of her for years, yet, when her knees buckled on reflex the Commander held up a hand, "Don't. Please. A simple hello is fine."

"Uh-hello," Shepard hesitated, She was standing, she became acutely aware, in front of one of the greatest officers in the hierarchy. One who had presided over the most devastating defeat in human history.

_Right out of the frying pan and into the fire. Well, best to meet it head on._

She straightened, not quite a pose of deference, not quite defiance. She stared straight ahead, not meeting the turian's eyes, but not avoiding them either. She clasped her hands behind her back and waited .

The Commander's piercing gaze looked her up and down. She shifted uncomfortably.

"Thank you," she said after a long moment, "for not leaving me down there."

"Please," he waved a hand, "If it hadn't been for you, we might have lost the matriarch's daughter," he paused, "and-well- you might not be thanking me in a minute."

"That's my cue," Dr. Salicus stood, pausing for just a moment as he passed by the Commander, "Go easy on my patient."

Vakarian nodded, "Don't worry doc, I'll leave her in one piece."

The doors swished open and then shut behind him, leaving the human alone with the commander.

"How are you feeling?"

The pounding in her head had faded into a manageable throb, so she nodded once, "Tired, but I'll be fine."

"Good," The commander sat in one of the chairs by the desk and gestured for her to take the other. She sat awkwardly, wrapping her arms around herself.

"It took some work to get you here," he began, "apparently taking you could have caused a diplomatic incident the hierarchy can't afford."

Shepard said nothing.

"That guy, Argus, seems like a real ass."

Shepard let out a single harsh laugh, and then grimaced from the pain in her ribs. "I can see why you would say that, Commander."

"In private, Vakarian is fine. Or Garrus."

He took in her wide eyed stare, mandibles waving gently with amusement, "I don't agree with some of my people about…well, about your people."

She said nothing.

"I'm still working on a way to bring that slaver down, but we'll get him," the Commmander- _no, Vakarian _she corrected herself_\- _continued, "I want to bring that whole operation down."

"The Pits?"

He nodded, "It's barbaric. I thought my people were better, but, well-," he shrugged, "In the meantime I need your help with another matter."

Shepard nodded, feeling on firmer ground here, "I'm ready to serve in whatever capacity you require, Si- uh, Vakarian." The informality felt strange inside her mouth. She suspected he was trying to entrap her somehow. When she was very young she remembered the way Tantius had changed the rules by the day, forcing her to adjust and adapt to avoid punishment. She was sure it had to do with breaking down her psychological defenses. Perhaps this would be similar. The best defense was to stay as deferent as possible. Pay attention and reveal no emotion.

Vakarian put a hand to his forehead. "You don't…" he let out a short sigh, "never mind."

She stayed silent again, watching Vakarian carefully.

After a long moment he fixed her with another gaze, "There's another issue. I was able to take you away because Dr. T'soni believes that beacon may have left something in your head, and since we don't have the beacon anymore…"

"I apologize, I didn't-"

"Are you really apologizing for saving me from that thing?"

Cheeks growing hot, Shepard paused, "I didn't know what it would do."

"You acted without hesitation. For all you knew at the time, you were saving my life. If anyone wants to punish you, they'll have to go through me."

"I-," she swallowed, "Thank you."

"I guess we can call it even, then," Vakarian said, amusement creeping into his sub vocals. "So did you get anything out of that artifact?"

She hesitated. She hadn't thought about the destruction of New York in years, but her mind had taken her back there. How long since she had thought about that run to the spaceport with John, or the bomb that had taken out her block during the war.

It had felt so similar to her memories, but the figures in the smoke; they weren't turian. It had been the same haunting sensation she had felt the first time she saw them, but the shape was all wrong. She remembered the chorus of voices and the way the fire had burned across every planet in the galaxy.

Shepard struggled to put it into words, "I saw- something. A vision or a prophecy. The entire galaxy was under attack; there were so many dead." She shook her head, "I doubt anyone would listen to a nightmare."

"Based on what the Doc and T'soni said, that's unlikely," he tilted his head, "she may have some better ideas on how to interpret it. "She suspected it would be overwhelming for you too quickly." He waved his hand, "we'll talk about that later. We still need your testimony about what you saw at the dig site. You sure of what you saw?"

Shepard nodded firmly, "I'm positive. Saren shot Nihlus in the back." For a moment she lingered on the verge of not telling him about the human she had seen. Then she remembered Nirali's face as she had fallen beneath a swarm of husks. Or Jensen's expression of shock as he had stared down at the bloody hole in his abdomen and struggled for a breath he would never take. Human he might be, but he wasn't on any side he was on. "There was someone else there too; he was human with dark hair. I couldn't see him very well, but he was there. If I saw him again, I could identify him."

Seeming to sense her internal conflict Vakarian asked quietly, "Why tell me this?"

"What he did to those people-," she answered, "those things we were fighting- if he cared about humans, he never would have been involved. "It was about power and fear." She shook her head in disgust. She didn't know what made her so certain he had a hand in it and wasn't an unwilling accomplice. There was a confidence he carried himself with not seen in slaves. No, she was positive, he was somehow behind this.

Vakarian nodded, "I see. Whatever the case, we need you to testify before the council."

Shepard sat back in her chair, meeting his eyes for the first time, "The council." Her voice was blank even as she reeled with shock.

"If we have a rogue SpecTRe, the council needs to know. I saw the Geth, but Saren, whatever was in the beacon- only you saw that."

"I see."

"We'll be at the citadel soon ," he leaned forward, "Get acclimated to the ship and get some down time. When you talk to the council, I'll be backing you up."

Shepard nodded slowly. Garrus stood. Sensing he was done with her she did as well. He walked out and she gave a him a slow ten count before she followed suit.

The council. The highest power this side of the galaxy and she was being called to speak to them. Shepard shook her head slowly. Her headache was making a slow resurgence already.

_Out of the frying pan alright, _she thought, as she passed through the med-bay doors,_ but what a fire._

She stepped outside med-bay and spotted Kaiden across the deck sipping from a mug and examining a terminal screen. He glanced up as the med-bay doors shut and waved her over. At a table, Vakarian was deep in conversation with the female turian, Decima, Shepard remembered.

How should see refer to the other turians?

The mannerisms of this crew had thrown her deeply off balance. How was she to know her place?

Best to stick to the other humans aboard until she had a satisfying answer. She hadn't stayed alive so long by being careless with her captors. She walked by them, avoiding eye contact, but, from the corner of her eye she saw Decima keeping an eye on her. That gaze was not particularly friendly.

"Glad to see you up," Kaiden said, jerking her from the reflection. She gave him a small smile, "how are you feeling."

"A bit like I got run over by a Krogan."

He chuckled, "I can imagine. You took a major hit back there." He powered off the terminal, "I can show you the quarters." He hesitated, "Joker's on board but he doesn't… eh, it's better he has a spot closer to the pilot consoles."

Turians had never been as strict about the separation between genders. Having a male and female berthing was generally reserved for the higher ranking among them. Shepard didn't find the lack of space for humans particularly surprising. She followed Kaiden to the elevator carrying them to the level just above the cargo bay. Shepard glanced around and caught sight of the vehicle port side. "That's a Mako," she let a hint of surprise into her voice, "M-35?"

She broke away from Kaiden and walked around it, "damn, it's nice. Last vehicle I worked now was a M-29 Grizzly." She glanced up, "that's a big goddamn gun."

Kaiden chuckled, "just one of the perks of working for Garrus Vakarian. I can talk to him about getting you the specs. We still don't have a good mechanic for it."

Shepard nodded. There had been a brief period before she had demonstrated biotic ability that Tantius had her learning to work on his vehicles. She had found the work enjoyable and meditative. She had liked the turian who had taught her as well. A younger mechanic, he had treated her as an equal. After she had developed her biotics, during the worst parts of her training, she had sacrificed her scant time to help him until Tantius had deemed it a distraction and forbade it.

"I'm rusty," she said carefully.

Kaiden shrugged, "I'll upload the manuals to your Omni-tool."

"Omni-tool?" She glanced down at her bare wrist.

Kaiden took it in stride, "I can get you weapon and tech issued too. From what I hear, the beacon fried yours" he stopped, "but you must be hungry."

Shepard had spent the past few years with Argus pinching credits on her food. Tantius had appreciated that human biotics burned through thousands of calories every time they used their powers. Argus had nearly quartered her rations. Hunger had been her constant companion for two years. She remembered the nutrient bar Kaiden had thrown at her, as if it were nothing to him.

"I- yeah, I could definitely eat."

He led her past the Mako, down a slim set of stairs to the underbelly of the ship. Three bunks and a set of lockers were available, but only two beds were set up for occupants.

"Hope you don't mind, I went ahead and set up a bed for you. Pick any locker you like if you have personal effects to store."

"No," Shepard shook her head, "I don't have anything."

She could feel the pity in his gaze even if he didn't look at her. She didn't have time to come up with a good enough response before he had pulled open the cabinet and was tossing an MRE in her direction. She caught it and tried to hide the urgency she with which she tore it open.

Argus had fed them mostly in nutrient pouches and bars and she was unaccustomed to what it was like to eat real food. She scarfed down the chili first without bothering to use the heater.

Kaiden discretely set a pack of protein bars and a bottle of water beside her and disappeared through the door. She finished the first meal and peeled open the bar. No longer quite so urgently hungry, she nibbled at the bar and sipped at the water.

She liked this human. He had a clean crisp smell, like citrus. She wasn't used to friendliness though. Tantius had fostered a competitive atmosphere among his biotics. She had a few companions- Finley, and Kai- though their friendship had often bordered on rivalry. Kaiden didn't seem interested in competing. There had been Nirali in the Pits, but Nirali hadn't been a friend at first. In the beginning she had used Nirali as a tool to survive. Later she had felt affection for her, but still…

Come to think of it, she didn't know a single thing about where Nirali came from. And now she was dead. Mara's eyes stung with unshed tears. She took a long moment to swallow them back. Crying was a waste of time. It wouldn't change anything.

Kaiden walked back in carrying three cases of different sizes. The first was palm sized and he tossed it to her. She caught it with her biotics, stopping it before it hit her shoulder and snatching it from the air with her hand.

"Nice."

She shrugged, "gotta stay in practice." She rubbed her neck where she still felt raw from raw from the collar.

Kaiden seemed to her thoughts, "that thing didn't look comfortable."

"You get used to it. As long as you don't try to burn with it on. You end up with a hell of a headache."

"I can imagine."

The case contained an Omni-tool and she slipped it on, initiating the set-up features.

"There's mesh here too," Kaiden said, "Should fit you better than what we scrounged up planet side. Got a hard suit too. The commander likes us to hit the citadel in armor."

As long as she was talking she may as well try to figure out her place here. "What's he like? All I know is he's butcher of New York." She leaned back in the chair tilting her head and smiling while she waited for the Omni-tool to access her personal data from her biometric markers..

"He's not what you'd expect. I don't think he likes what the turians have done with us. Aboard the ship, we've got pretty much equal status. Off the ship, he's got an image to maintain, but he's never hurt me. He won't even use a biotic inhibitor, says he trusts his ground team."

The omni-tool beeped an acknowledgement as it finished the set up and she powered off the display

It was true, she mused, there had been multiple opportunities to attack the turian on Gladius and yet she had followed his orders and stayed focused on the Geth. Of course, it had made sense at the time. She needed the Commander to get her off world.

"What do you think of what happened down there?" She asked after another moment.

"It was rough down there," Kaiden said, "You never get used to seeing dead mercs were one thing, but there were families and colonists down there too. And the miners," he added, referring to the workers that had been turned to husks.

"Yeah," she agreed, "dead humans, dead turians, and we still didn't get the beacon."

"Got some mercs though," he said thoughtfully, "but you might be right. Any idea why we're headed to the citadel?"

"Apparently," Shepard said, "We're going to talk to the council about the dead SpecTRe's and the broken protean artifact."

Kaiden raised his eyebrows and nodded, 'They're not going to like that." He frowned suddenly, 'It's not going to go over well that two humans were involved."

"I don't suppose it would." She sighed heavily, "I guess we're looking to be more and more trouble these days." She rubbed her forehead, "I've never met anyone in the turian military before today. I was with the Blue Suns before the Pits. Any idea how to act?"

Kaiden chuckled, "I just salute anything I can't eat or kill. You're about as equipped as I am for this."

Despite herself Shepard found herself chuckling along with him.

The inter-com beeped.

"Kaiden, you're holding out on me."

Kaiden looked up, "What, Joker?"

_Pilot, _he mouthed at her. It was a human voice.

"Uh- I don't know- maybe our house guest. Not gonna bring her up and introduce me? What's she look like?"

She raised her eyebrows as Kaiden blushed furiously, "She's uh-right here Joker."

"Uh-huh, I'll bet she is. So spill it."

Mara wasn't sure what made her goad Kaiden, but it was hard to deny, he was kind of cute when he blushed like that. "yeah, Kaiden," she said slyly, "What do I look like?"

For a moment Kaiden surveyed her, still blushing, "Tough," he said after a moment, "but good. She looks good."

"Well bring her up. Can't keep her all to yourself forever. Besides, we're almost there, you can't miss the view."

Kaiden smiled warmly at her, "Shall we?"


	6. The New Best Friends Club

_In breaking news, two turians were murdered in Zakara Ward just hours ago. The suspect in custody is rumored to be a Dometia- a biotic human trained by the turian mercenaries. The victim has yet to be named by C-Sec, but Matriarch Benezia is already claiming this is enough to abolish slave owning mercenary groups. More from her, up next._

_ -2179 news report_

_It is estimated twenty thousand humans were captured from New York by mercenaries. Of these, more than half were sent to mining facilities and other laboring facilities. They were trained as an elite fighting force. The Blue Suns used these to eliminate outlying human colonies and wage concentrated war on every other mercenary group in the galaxy . The Blue Suns trained nearly all Dometia and are responsible for the capture of millions of humans. Many were given back to the hierarchy, but many remain with the turians. _

_Today, Dometia are made up solely of biotics. There majority of non-biotic Dometia were destroyed during the war against the Eclipse and Bloodpack during which they were used as cannon fodder. These biotics are medical experiments. Unstable and volatile, each is an accident waiting to happen. We have already seen the price of allowing this. They can not be allowed to exist. This is not a plea for humanity, it is a plea for sanity in insane times._

_ -Letter from Matriarch Benezia to the council, 2179_

_Resolved: While private ownership of humans shall not be impeded, no mercenary organization shall claim ownership of a standing human army._

_Resolved: No experimental medication to surgery shall be used to enhance fighting ability or lethality in humans. An approved list of medical treatments shall be generated by the Hierarchy._

_Resolved: Mercenary attacks on any remaining human colonies shall cease. The Hierarchy shall manage the treatment of such colonies._

_ -2180, resolutions on the treatment of humans as set forth by the Council_

Mara stood in the women's locker room aboard the Normandy. There was no separate room for humans to use, but then, there were far fewer humans on this ship, than aboard any Blue Suns vessel. She had always been on of at least a fighting squad of twenty humans at least. There were hundreds of humans in the cells below the pits.

In the pits, however, she had only been cleaned after fights, where she huddled shivering beneath a trickle of frigid water.

She didn't like the idea of shedding her clothes with any female turian on the ship able to walk in, but she needed to clean herself. The worst of the dirt and filth had been washed away in the med-bay, but her hair felt greasy, and her skin oily. If she was going to stay here, she'd have to acclimate to it sooner or later.

Luckily Kaiden had supplied her with a bag of shower goods and promised her they could replace them with better things at the idea of showering in a hot locker room was delicious.

Before she could think it over any further she shed the sweatpants she wore and set out a clean set of compression shorts, a sports bra, and a tank top that had been requisitioned for her along with her armor. Turning on the facet she stepped beneath the faucet and sighed in pleasure as the water turned warm and then hot. Steam formed around her. She could feel her tense muscles relaxing as she took long steadying breaths. Her encounter with the pilot hadn't gone as expected and it left her feeling out of place aboard this vessel.

_It figured that the Commander was bringing another human on board, a woman for that matter, and she ends up unconscious in medbay for days. Jeff "Joker" Moreau heaved a sigh. It was downright unfair that he was chained to the slight console all the damn time. Well, not chained, he had plenty of time off, but it was creepy to walk down to medbay to stare at the new human lady, so he had kept himself busy calculating flight algorithms for the past couple days while they hung out in the system and the commander negotiated with mercs. _

_And now they were headed to the citadel. What was up with that? The Commander preferred hierarchy space, colonies mostly. After spending the last few years on the ass end of nowhere, what the hell was going to make him want to pull into, basically, the capital of the galaxy. _

_He heard a voice behind him and pivoted looking over her shoulder._

"_Well, well, well," he called, "look who finally shows up to see Joker."_

"_Sorry Joker," Kaiden said, "had a couple things to take care of."_

"_Yeah, well, you made it eventually."_

"_You have a human pilot?" _

"_Best in the galaxy," he proclaimed, casting a glance at the woman and stopping short. "Wait, Mara? Mara Shepard?"_

_She turned and, holy crap, that was her. Same copper skin, same tattoos, same black hair and green eyes. "Jeff?" She took a half step back, "What the hell are you doing here?"_

Tiptree was a tiny human colony located around hills and canyons. It's soils were acidic and produced little crops. It's seasons were drastic and volatile. Yet, somehow, the people there survived string after string of bad harvests, even without alliance supply lines. It escaped notice during the war by cutting communications with the outside world, but it still harbored some fifteen thousand humans.

She had been sent there in the dead of winter, dropped a few miles away with nothing to her name except a few doses of dust in case she needed a biotic boost, or there was a delay in her mission, and a ragged jacket. Patrols had found her a few miles outside.

The Tiptree colonists had found her just in time; she remembered freezing, teeth chattering in the snow. Her mission had been simple, infiltrate, wait for the signal, then bring down the defenses leaving the colony vulnerable for shock troopers. Of course, it had all gone south

Mara picked the bar of soap from her shower and a wash cloth. It was harsh and stung her skin, but it felt so damned good to be clean. She managed gingerly to run the cloth across her ribs, noting the vivid purple bruising. There were more smaller cuts and bruises, expertly sealed with medi-gel sutures. The turian doctor wasn't so bad at human skin, it seemed. She had seen turian hands perform worse sutures, at least.

.

_Kaiden glanced between them, "You two know each other?"_

"_Yeah," Joker said, "From, like, forever ago." He glanced at Mara, "It's Joker now, by the way."_

_She punched him lightly, extra lightly, on the shoulder. "Glad to see it worked out for you."_

"_Yeah," he said, nodding. He faced the console, stuffing back the urge to say, 'no thanks to you." _

_Mara stepped back. "I uh," she said, "I should go. I should-…"_

_He let out a long sigh, "you could have done a lot worse by me and Hills." He wasn't being fair. If it hadn't been for her the Blue Suns wouldn't have kept him around. Not with Vrolik's syndrome. They probably would have shot him._

_Her brow furrowed, "I tried." He glanced away from the console and watched as she met Kaiden's questioning glance across the console._

_She squared her shoulders and looked out the window into space, "The Blue Suns sent me as a spy to his colony. I got turned around when the snow hit and I almost froze to death. His colony saved my life"_

"_Yeah, too bad your people didn't bother to check the whether reports. And, you know, that we had those thermal scanning drones," he switched to a falsetto, "I almost died, your people saved me. I ran away from the big bad turians."_

_She sighed nodded, "It's not entirely untrue. I was supposed to disable the defenses, but, we got snowed in. Couldn't get confirmation that it was time, and the ships couldn't get troops on the ground even if I could. Once the storm was over I warned Joker so he and his sister could get out before the shock troopers hit." She let out a breath, "I guess he grew on me."_

_Her chin jutted up, and he remembered seeing that look. She had definitely had a strong stubborn streak._

"_Guarded our ass while we made it to the shuttle too," he added grudgingly. Of course, if it hadn't been for her bringing down the defenses they would never have been attacked in the first place. He decided to leave that part out. He scowled for a moment. What kind of credit did you get from saving someone from a massacre you had also caused? Finally he shook his head, "It was a different time, I guess."_

_Didn't mean he wouldn't be keeping an eye on her._

"_But watch yourself Kaiden."_

_The biotic made a sound of protest, "Hey, that's unfair."_

_Mara said nothing, features smooth.._

"_Yeah, sure," he said finally, "Sorry or whatever."_

_If Kaiden wasn't going to watch his own back, Joker would have to do it for him. God knows you couldn't trust a Dometia. He had learned that the hard way. Mara looked as if she had something to say, but they were interrupted._

"_I see the humans are getting along," The Commander drawled, "Nothing like good old fashioned team spirit."_

_Joker jumped in surprise, "Yes sir. nothing but the best friends club over here."_

Mara sighed and buried her head in her hands. Joker had been screaming that she should come with them when she loaded him and his sister into the shuttle, but she had hesitated at the last moment and then a member of the squad had found them. She had stayed behind to cover for them and, despite her best efforts, had received a beating as punishment that had nearly cost her life.

Joker wouldn't know that though. She didn't know how to tell him, or how to make it right. By the time Joker had communicated the whole sordid affair to Kaiden would she have any allies aboard the vessel? She knew the value of having someone watch your back. Alienate too many people and you ended up face down with a stray bullet in your back. Maybe that was what had happened to Nihlus.

The water felt good at least. She shouldn't linger. One of the turians would come in and accuse her of shirking her duty. But Vakarian had told her to relax and get cleaned up…

She washed the last bit of shampoo from her hair and turned off the water.

Mara looked at herself in the mirror for a moment. Bruises and scars. The wear of the last two years showed on her body, she knew. There were cracked callouses on her feet and hands. She needed a haircut to cut out some of the knots she knew she'd never untangle. She walked around the wall that separated the showers from the rest of the room.

When she was a kid she had watched vids with her mother, both of them nestled safely on the couch in their living room. The vids had starred beautiful women in dresses. She remembered watching her mother dress up for dates and parties. She would sit on her parents bed and watch her mother apply makeup and spritz herself with perfume. Hannah Shepard had been a fighter, but she hadn't had scars like Mara had now. She looked down at her hands where tiny white lines criss crossed across her knuckles.

She had noticed a single white scar cutting down Kaiden's lip and wondered where he had gotten it.

She shook her head, banishing the train of thought. What did she care anyways?

She wrapped herself in a towel, tucking it in to keep it from slipping and went to work with a brush on hair. The door swished open and she looked over her shoulder. Decima walked through the door.

Decima waited a beat, "No greeting, Dometia?"

She dropped the brush and popped to attention, a hand clasped over her heart, "Ma'am."

Decima looked at her head to toe, distaste on her face, "at least you don't smell anymore."

Mara said nothing, Decima turned to the mirror studying herself. Mara took it as dismissal and picked her brush back up again. Decima studied herself in the mirror a moment, then glanced at her again.

"The commander seems to think you're trustworthy," She said, "but If it were up to me, you wouldn't be here. If you'll betray your own kind, what will you do to us?"

Mara stilled her features, trying not to let her frustration show on her face. She headed for her clothes and found the Lieutenant in her path. She faced Decima down a moment, Back straight, squaring her shoulders, but not meeting her eyes. It wasn't quite a challenge, but it was close.

Decima stood there a long moment, then, obviously feeling her point was made, stepped aside, "Stay out of my way, Dometia." She headed for the shower.

Mara let out a breath she had been holding. She wasn't sure she liked this place. The rules were unclear. Each turian she had met seemed to interact with her in a different way. It seemed her life had gotten infinitely more complicated.

What was she doing? Standing up to Decima wouldn't do her any good. But would backing down make her leave off? Mara vowed to avoid Decima as much as possible from now on. Challenging a lieutenant wouldn't gain her any points here and she didn't need any enemies.

She wouldn't have cared so much when she was younger. The incident with Joker had been the end of her most rebellious years. She had spent that time enduring the beatings, taking her blows where she could. She could remember the feel of blue blood underneath her fingernails.

After Joker and his sister had escaped, Tantius had left her so beaten she had been unable to walk to medical. She had invented a story, about sneaky humans who had managed to escape her chase, but it was a weak cover and he had seen through it.

"This is the last time," he had told her, "one more toe out of line and I'll kill you myself."

She hazily remembered him dragging her down the passage and throwing her to the ground in front of the doctor after he had finished with her. She had pulled through, but it had been close. She had fallen in line after that, excelled at combat, and risen through the ranks.

Mara walked past eyes still down and dressed as quickly as possible, pulling the sweatpants and jacket she bad been wearing over her tank top and shorts, before walking to the armor locker to finish dressing. Despite her resolve to brush off Decima's confrontation her face felt hot and flushed and her hear pounded with rage.

The Commander wanted them ready to go ashore as soon as the council was ready to meet with them, though that might not be for another hour or two. Might as well check her hard-suit and load out. Hopefully there would be no one down there to bother her for a bit. She walked by a small kitchen area with as bowl of nutrient bars sitting on the counter and snatched a handful, stuffing them in the pocket of her sweatpants.

She settled herself on the bench and cracked open the locker with her name on it. There was a Stiletto pistol inside a Katana shotgun and several mods. She started with the pistol, field stripping it automatically. The familiar motions were comforting.

She carefully examined and cleaned each piece, though they were already spotless. Whoever maintained the armory did a good job of it. She picked up the weapon mods sitting in the bottom and glanced through them. She selected the power magnifier and piercing mod and started re-assembling the weapon.

She had been doing this since she was a pre-teen. Stripping, cleaning and modding weapons for the higher ranking mercenaries was a basic duty for trainees and initiates. And kids who got themselves so injured they couldn't train for a few days. She glanced down at the finished pistol, satisfied and picked up the shotgun.

When she had finished with that she pulled out each piece of hard-suit, examining it carefully. Armor might be important for anyone, but when your combat training required you to be feet from the enemy regularly, learning to spot the slightest defect was the difference between coming home and ending up in a bloody pile on an alien world. She had seen enough bloody deaths to watch herself carefully.

"Good to see you up and about."

Shepard glanced over, surprised anyone had managed to sneak up on her. She started to stand but the asari made a dismissive hand motion and said quietly, "that's not necessary."

Mara settled back down, and the asari sat beside her. "Thank you for what you did in medical," Mara said, "I was a bit disoriented earlier." She waved back vaguely in the direction of medical on the upper deck.

"I don't blame you," Liara said, "It must have been startling."

Mara nodded and continued her examination of the chestplate. This was nice stuff. Nicer then anything she had worn since she worked directly below Tantius.

"I wanted to thank you," Liara said after a moment, "I wouldn't have made it out of the arena without you."

"The Pits?" Mara said, she tilted her head to the side considering. "Maybe. Might have wanted you dead to cover up having you in the first place. More likely they'd have wanted to keep an asari around for a while."

Out of the corner of her eye, Liara shuddered, "I don't like either of those options. I'm glad we escaped."

"Me to," Mara said, "I'm sorry about..uh-the whole fight."

Liara put a hand on her shoulder, "you didn't seem to be there by choice."

"No." Mara said flatly, "I wasn't."

"It would take tremendous willpower to survive such a place."

Mara shifted uncomfortably. She didn't know how to talk about her time in the Pits. The indignity and fear had been living with for two years was over. The certainty that she was going to die a bloody death for the entertainment of a barbaric crowd had ended. It wasn't freedom, but it was something.

And yet she felt strangely hollow.

She changed the subject, "Dr. T'soni-"

"Liara is fine."

Mara hesitated. Would it be fine to call her that in front of the Commander or Decima? She set down the chestplate and ran a hand through her hair.

"Ok… Liara," she said cautiously, glancing around the armory, 'The Commander mentioned you might know more about whatever that thing put in my head."

Liara nodded slowly, "Yes, I've spent most of my life studying protheans."

Mara felt her cheeks growing hot with the next question, "Could you tart by telling me what a prothean is."

To her credit, the doctor hid her look of surprise well. After a moment she said, "I forgot how much of the galaxy so many humans haven't seen."

Mara nodded, "Before I got sent to the Pits I helped with rounding up some human rebels. After that I got sent to Illium for the Eclipse war." The corner of her mouth quirked into a smile, "you're the first asari I've met that isn't trying to kill me."

Liara smiled back, "Well, not anymore."

A slow smile grew spreading over Mara's face, "touché," she hesitated, "by the way, if you wanted some pointers on hand to hand I could help, maybe." Armor inspection completes she started to strap it on. Most turians didn't wear a military uniform like the alliance had on earth, before the war. The turians she had worked for wore armor full time, and they expected the same of their humans. She needed to look her best if the Commander was going to send her to the council to accuse a turian SpecTRe of murder, and then tell them she had destroyed their fancy antique beacon, and then explain that she was having nightmares.

The asari blushed, at the mention of her poor hand to hand skills, "I could probably use that." Liara hesitated a long moment, "about the beacon however, perhaps I could help you."

Mara glanced at her as she buckled the ceramic plating around her legs, "I told the Commander everything," she said nervously, "I didn't leave anything out."

"I believe you Shepard. What you saw was a message, but I don't think your brain was able to interpret it. It could be for a number of factors, perhaps it's a language barrier, perhaps you don't have the requisite knowledge of protheans to understand what it was telling you."

Shepard nodded, "that would make sense," she said, "I didn't mean to get that close to it. I was trying to throw the Commander out of the way. I was afraid…" she sighed and focused on the armor buckles, "I was worried he'd die and I'd be executed for trying to run."

Mara heard the muttered, "Goddess," not wanting to see the pity on Liara's face she checked and re-checked her seals. "No one blames you for the beacon."

Mara shook her head, "Pretty sure the council will."

"The Commander believes you," Liara said, "that's what's important."

Mara didn't respond.

"Well," Liara continued, "perhaps if you learned more about the beacon."

Mara nodded, "Ok. Tell me more."

Liara started to talk. By the time Mara was suited up and ready, Liara was still talking. She pulled one of the nutrient bars she had snatched from the kitchen earlier from her pocket and ate it slowly. She couldn't wrap her mind around food being so readily available.

She couldn't claim to understand everything, but it helped distract her from the pounding in her head that had been present since the beacon. The facts the asari was spouting blurred together and she had to admit, some felt vaguely wrong, yet, she hadn't ever studied ancient civilizations. If her visions were from the beacon, however, Mara was pretty sure she knew what had happened to the Protheans. They had been conquered and annihilated. But who was she to contradict the leading prothean researcher?

She stayed where she was, sitting by the weapons locker listening to the doctor until Joker's voice came over the intercom, "Boarding party to the bridge for departure."

She stood and stretched, 'That's my cue, I guess. Are you coming with us?"

Liara stood as well, "actually yes. I've requested thre Commander to remain aboard to," she paused, turning an even darker shade of blue, "study your condition."

Mara froze for a moment, every muscle tense. Then nodded slowly, "I see."

"Shepard?" The asari said uncertainly. They reached the elevator and Mara pressed the button.

The door shut and Mara faced it a moment. Deep breath. Don't let them see you angry.

_I am not a lab rat._

She turned.

"What will that involve?" she asked.

The asari was holding something back from her. She wanted to know what this woman had planned for her. She remembered some of the surgeries and modifications she had been subjected to as a child. She didn't want to do that again. She shook her head to banish the memories. Was her headache coming back, or was that nerves?

Liara put a hand on her shoulder and she flinched away from it. "Doctor T'Soni, she said quietly, "I don't want to be your science experiment."

"I didn't mean-," the asari had time to say before the doors opened.

Mara didn't wait for Liara before she strode up the stairs to the bridge.

The Commander, Kaiden, and Decima were already there when she arrived. She saw the commander study her from head to toe for a moment, and then nod, satisfied that she was capable of looking professional.

"The council's ready, Shepard. Are you?"

She nodded, "I'm ready Commander. Let's go."

Kaiden felt sorry for Mara. She was standing, shoulders squared before the council but it was going decidedly bad.

Saren had been patched into the council meeting and he was looking at the human with unbridled contempt from the holopad.

"This _human_," he spat the word, "is accusing me before the council of murder and treason."

"With all due respect, councilors," Mara said, "I know what I saw."

Saren sneered, "In your dreams? Is this admissable evidence to the council now?"

The asari councilor held up a hand, "the Geth attack is a matter of some concern, but there is no evidence Saren was involved in any way."

"Shepard has already said, she witnessed the murder of Nihlus," said Garrus, standing shoulder to shoulder with Mara.

Turians weren't capable of rolling their eyes, but Kaiden was fairly certain that, had they been, the turian councilor would have. "The testimony of a slave race is inadmissable. C-sec turned up no evidence to support this charge in any way, but," he tilted his head thoughtfully, "the human she mentioned does match the description of a known fugitive. A leader of a terrorist cell called Cerberus. His name is Nielson. Perhaps this human has been recruited and is trying to lead us astray."

Kaiden had heard of Cerberus. While the Turians had labeled it a violent terrorist cell, this would be the first violent act that Kaiden could think of that hadn't involved the liberation of enslaved miners, or the hijacking of a slaver vessel. They were rarely successful, but the whispers he had heard were all full of hope. Someone alive was still fighting for freedom out there. If Cerberus had been involved in the slaughter of the innocents at the human settlement they had found however, that changed things for sure.

Saren nodded once, "she did destroy the beacon. Perhaps she was recruited by this Nielsen."

Mara stiffened and glanced at the Commander who snarled, "she pushed me aside. The thing could have killed me for all we know."

"And yet," Saren said, "it didn't. All we know is the she claims it gave her a vision, but how do we even know she's telling the truth."

The salarian, Valern, lifted a hand, "coucilor, commander, please. We've read the Eden Prime reports. I don't find the testimony of one traumatized human to be compelling evidence against a council SpecTRe."

"Exactly," said Saren, "I resent these accusations. Nihlus was a fellow SpecTRe and a friend."

Ambassador Orinia nodded slowly, "That could be true," she said slowly, "or it could be what allowed you to catch him off guard."

Folding his arms over his chest Saren faced them. His sub vocals thrummed with barely suppressed rage, "Commander Vakarian, neither the council nor I have time to help you work through whatever regret you might feel about a war- a successful war, I might add- that the turians didn't start, but you certainly finished. I question the wisdom of putting you in your current position if your unable to deal with the consequences of your decisions" He nodded to ambassador Orinia, "and everyone knows you were vocally opposed to the war and it's… aftermath. This isn't the first time you've tried to bring me to the council on false charges."

Ambassador Orinia's mandibles flicked, a sign of annoyance.

Vakarian addressed the SpecTRe directly, "next time we meet, Saren-…"

"What? will you sic your Dometia on me?" He studied Mara. Kaiden couldn't see her expression, but her shoulders were stiff and her fists were clenched at her sides. "Looks as if she's seen better days. I can smell her anger from here. She looks practically rabid. I'd take the merciful route if I were you. Put her out of her misery."

Mara's knuckles were white, but she said nothing.

Vakarian stepped forward, "Good thing, that's not your decision to make."

"If you aren't able to make that kind of decision yourself, perhaps you aren't ready to join the SpecTRes."

Orinia held up a hand, "Saren, that-"

Tevos sighed, holding up both hands, signaling for calm, "stop it. All of you. Commander Vakarian's admission into the SpecTRes is not the purpose of this meeting.'

"This meeting has no purpose," spat Saren angerly. "They're wasting all of our time."

Sparatus nodded, "as far as this 'vision' goes. I won't base my decision on the wild imaginings. Unless there's something tangible to back up what this slave is claiming…?"

"Do you have anything else to add," Valern asked.

The Commander sighed and shook his head, "you've made your decision. I won't waste my breath."

There was a brief moment while the counselors made their decisions official on their datapads, then Tevos spoke. "Ambassador, we find no evidence to link Saren to the Geth. Your petition to have Saren disbarred from the SpecTRes is denied." She paused, "this meeting is adjourned."

When Mara turned her face was carefully blank, but her body spoke of her rage. She carried herself stiffly, and her cheeks were red. Kaiden gave her a small smile but she didn't return it, opting instead to face the Commander and Ambassador. "Well," said Orinia after a moment, "that went about as well as a I expected."

"Saren's a bastard," Vakarian growled, "someone needs to put him down."

Orinia nodded slowly, "This isn't over yet Commander. Bring the Lieutenant and come to my office. We have things to discuss."

The Commander started to leave then turned to him and Mara pulling up his omni-tool. "Kaiden, I'm transferring credits. Get Shepard set up with equipment. I'll send you a nav-point if I need either of you."

"Yes Commander."

The turian nodded to him before addressing Mara, "Don't listen to him. You did fine."

She nodded, but looked unconvinced.

Kaiden touched Mara's shoulder lightly. She looked at him. Her face wasn't black any more. There was a line of worry between her eyebrows and her shoulders were slightly slumped. He tilted his head, "let's go eat. We can get you whatever equipment you need later."

Mara nodded slowly and they stood down the steps of citadel tower. Around them the room hummed with voices. Turian, Quarian, Asari, Volus, there were even a few Vorcha walking around. After a moment Mara took a breath and began to study the people around them with interest.

"Ever been anywhere this crowded?" He asked.

"Illium," she answered, "for a while. Fought some of the Eclipse, back in the day."

"Never been," he said, "we were on Palawan for a while last year." They hit the elevator and Kaiden punched the button fro the wards.

"What was that like?" Shepard asked.

"Hot," he answered, "but beautiful. There's some amazing views." Palaven's sun was closer and hotter then earths. Probably why turians had evolved with a carapace. He had spent all of his time there in environmental suits and radiation protective shelters. Still, the sunset from the Vakarian ancestral home had been too beautiful to ever forget.

They stepped out into the wards and Kaiden stepped to the side, pulling up a map on his Omni-tool. He doubted she'd appreciate too much interest so he kept his voice causal as he said, "that was pretty rough up there. You ok?"

Mara leaned over and pointed to a point, "is that ramen? Let's do that." They started walking and she said slowly, "I've heard worse over the years, Kaiden. I'm fine. As long as the Commander doesn't send me back or-…"

She cut herself off, "I'll be fine."

"Ok." If she didn't want to talk about it he wouldn't pressure her. "The Commander isn't a difficult turian to work for. If he said he wouldn't send you back, he'll keep his word."

Mara nodded again, and fell into a thoughtful silence.

The wards didn't have a day/night cycle and was kept dim round the clock. It was crowded in Zakara, but more comfortable for the humans than the citadel chambers. There were more humans around here. Most of them were beggars or children. Unsuitable for hard labor and masterless they weren't legally able to be hired and they dotted the halls. A few human children ran in and out of the crowd. Kaiden had no doubt they were pickpocketing credit chits off the more fortunate. When they got older they'd wind up selling drugs, or selling themselves. A few would be picked up for the worst and hardest jobs in the harshest conditions. No one would report the abductions. There weren't enough people who cared.

They arrived to the Ramen shop and stepped inside, the delicious smell of roasted meat filled the air and it was warm from the vat of salt based broth behind the counter.

They slurped quietly at the noodles. He was glad to notice that Shepard wasn't eating with the same ravenous quality she had earlier, but he had also seen her slipping food from the ship into her pockets. It wasn't like the ship to run short on food, but he expected it would be awhile before she realized.

Shepard ate a bit of pork thoughtfully and then looked at him, "you ever heard of this Nielson."

Kaiden nodded, "once or twice." Rumors had circulated for years. Kaiden had even heard from a Cerberus associate once. He had thought long and hard about running away. But with the Commander… he'd be more of a liability than an asset. Someone would come looking for him. He had been in too many top secret meetings and along for too many classified projects.

Shepard nodded, took another bite, "Yeah, me too. When I was with the mercs there was a shipment coming in. The ship got hijacked, they sent out one last message implicating Cerberus. She half smiled, "Tantius, my owner at the time, was so pissed. Threw this training dummy halfway across the room. Screamed at us about everything for the rest of the day. Lost the ship and the cargo though, and screaming wouldn't get it back."

By cargo, Kaiden realized, she meant people. It was one of the reason why all humans working for mercs, not just Dometia, were despised by nearly every other human. He had never shared the feeling. Not everyone got lucky. Some things were beyond control. Kaiden chuckled, then grew serious, "but now he's involved with all of this."

"I was thinking about that," She said, "all those people. They were just miners, Kaiden. There was a girl I was with, Nirali. She was-" she made a thoughtful sound, "she was my friend, I guess. I thought we were going to get out together. But those husks…." She trailed off, "the other guy was young. Just a teen," she shook her head, "I hate losing people."

"No one could blame you for it."

Shepard looked at her bowl, nearly empty now, "I know. I blame me."

Kaiden nodded.

"Those people were innocent. Whatever Nielsen was, he's gone to the bad," Kaiden said.

Shepard made a face, "I don't want to be told I'm a species traitor anymore."

"If we help take him down," Kaiden said, "we can save lives. Human lives included."

Having made some decision, Shepard stood. They had ordered a tray of dumplings and Shepard wrapped a few of the leftover ones in a napkin, "I'll be back."

She walked outside and waited. Kaiden paid the restaurant and followed her. He was just in time to see her bend down and grab a human girl by the shoulder. She fought for a minute until Shepard said something. Then she stopped and listened. After a moment Shepard handed the child the dumplings.

The girl ran off and Shepard gestured to him.

He followed her, "what are you up to?"

"Hmm?" She asked, "Tantius used to send us out to gather information all the time on Illium and Omega. You learn some tricks."

She walked over to a vista and leaned on it, "wow."

He followed her gaze. Before them the wards spread out like a map.

He leaned next to her, "big place."

She nodded, "I thought it would be more of a station, but it's a city."

He nodded in agreement, "There must be millions of people here. It can't be possible to track everyone coming and going."

It made Brain camp look like next to nothing. He had thought Gagarin station was so big as a child. He could never have imagined anything on this scale.

"And look at the ward arms," he continued, "how do they keep all that mass from falling apart?"

"The council represents more races than I thought. Explains a lot I guess."

"How so?"

"Well," She said, "imagine taking care of all these people and then we show up. Must have been easy to just let the hierarchy handle it."

He nodded slowly, "makes sense. Plus, when we came on the scene we were immediately in the middle of a war. Imagine trying to keep all these cultures working together. They probably just want to keep everything running. It's not just that they didn't like us."

Shepard smiled, "of course not. What's not to like? We've got oceans, and beautiful women, and this emotion called love. If you watch the old vids, we've got everything they want." She was still looking across the wards and he couldn't help but admired her in profile. The orange lights coming from the ward below reflected off her kin, showing her high cheekbones snd piercing green eyes.

"When you put it like that," he said looking back out at the wards, there's no reason they wouldn't like you." He paused, Shepard turned towards him looking equal parts amused and startled. He hadn't quite meant to say that, "I mean, us." She opened her mouth to say something, but they were interrupted.

"Someone doesn't get out much."

Shepard turned, then grinned in surprise, "Well, well, it's Ashley goddamn Williams." She crossed the space between them, clasping the woman's hand in hers. "I thought you were dead."

Ashley shrugged, "almost, a couple times."

Kaiden glanced at her, "do you know everyone in the galaxy?"

"Sometimes you just get lucky, Alenko. Williams and I fought Eclipse together on Illium." Williams looked at him and he could see the tattoos on her face. They were white instead of blue and not quite as elaborate as Shepard's.

"Yeah," Ashley said, "til I took an Omni-blade to the gut. Some asari found me and patched me up."

"I tried to go back," Shepard said, "looking apologetic."

Ashley shook her head, "I knew the score. Don't worry about it Shepard. Us non-space wizards got the short end of the stick."

Kaiden nodded to himself, that made sense. There had been non-biotic Dometia, but the war with the Eclipse gang had been hard and the Blue Suns had used them as a front line infantry. It had sent them nearly to extinction. Now most people barely remembered when Dometia and biotic weren't synonymous.

"So what brings you to the citadel?" Shepard asked.

"I heard you were after some information. I work for one of the brokers around here. Volus, named Barla Von. Even got my own apartment now and he turns a blind eye to me making some money on the side."

Kaiden nodded, "there's a turian, name of Saren. We think he's dirty, but we need some evidence."

Ashley's eyes narrowed, "He's a bird," she said, "of course he's dirty. But yeah, I know the one." She glanced at Shepard, "not even gonna charge you. Bunch of guys pretty high up are pissed at him. He betrayed the wrong guy, if you ask me," she said. "Anyways all I know is they hired some Krogan freelancer to deal with it, but he got himself detained by c-sec."

Shepard glanced at Kaiden, "sounds like a good enough lead to me."

He nodded back at her. They could work with that.


	7. Krogan and Quarians

Ashley grinned, "That's what I'm good for: taking names and finding info."

Shepard smiled back, "you're a long way from Illium."

Ashley leaned on one hip, crossing her arms, "can't believe we even made it out of that."

"It was bloodbath," Shepard agreed. She glanced at Kaiden out of the corner of her eye. He was leaning against a pillar listening and made a hand motion for her to continue her conversation. From the looks of it he was listening and interested. She wasn't sure how she felt about eavesdroppers, but Ashley didn't seem to mind.

Illium had been the closest she'd been to being in hell. The Eclipse had every advantage. Superior, better trained commandos. More technology. They knew the terrain. Finally they had cornered a good portion of the leadership in a gang owned building. They were pinned down good, but they put up a hell of a fight. Tantius had ended up throwing troops at them one after another. A meat shield that had soaked up bullets and attention until a few biotics could sneak through and take them down.

They had left behind more than bodies. Faulty evidence and faked files that indicated there was a mole. That had split the Eclipse into splinter groups and factions. Those had been much easier to take out, but that was comparatively. Commandos didn't go down easy, and Eclipse combat engineers were nothing to joke about.

"So what's life like here as a free woman?" Shepard asked, trying to disguise the note of longing in her voice.

Ashley Leaned on the railing beside her, "Tantius was right about one thing. No one's ever really free. But this place isn't so bad. There are humans here building lives. You have to put up with Fist's racket."

"Fist?" Shepard asked.

"Basically runs things around here," Ashley said, "he's fucking bastard, but he runs this dingy little underground club and has a small army of mercs. Pay insurance to his thugs, and the turians don't bust down your door and send you back to the hierarchy."

Shepard grimaced, "sounds like a bastard."

"Yeah," Ash said, 'he wanted to hire me on, but...you know... Barla Von offered a better price and..."

"And?"

"And it's nice to not make a living out of beating the shit out of people."

Shepard nodded. She wondered if she'd ever be able to find a comparatively peaceful job like that. No, probably not, she reflected, she'd die on a battlefield somewhere when her luck ran out. She had made a certain amount of peace with that years ago. Shepard furrowed her brow, she did have one question. She glanced at Kaiden again, then lowered her voice, "the drugs Ash, how'd you kick'em?"

"The comedown is a hell of thing," Ashley said, "Takes about a week and a half, but you just find someplace to hole up and wait for the hallucinations and the fever and the shaking to pass. That asari who rescued me nursed me through it."

"Hallucinations?" Kaiden asked.

Shepard and Ashley both looked over and Ashley grinned, "he's kinda cute," she muttered.

Grinning lazily Shepard leaned on a hip, "ehhh...he's okay." Kaiden, shook his head still grinning.

Ashley laughed, "you sparred with him yet?" She looked at Kaiden, "she always spars with the ones she likes."

"Saving it for later. Maybe." Shepard replied with a wicked grin even as she felt her cheeks growing hot. "Got a job to work first."

"So who is the guy you're working for these days," Ashley asked.

Shepard hesitated. Dropping Vakarian's name wasn't the way to go. He had been a young general when he won the war, but his name was cemented in the memory of every human who had been in New York.

Kaiden didn't have the same compunction, "We work for Commander Vakarian."

Shepard bit her lip; there was no way she wasn't going to get an earful. Ashley turned to her, brown eyes bright with rage. "What the hell Shepard? And you're helping him voluntarily?"

Shepard swallowed, "Ash it's more complicated than that."

The other Dometia walked up until they were nose to nose. Instinctively, Shepard threw her shoulders back, standing up straighter and facing Ashley down. "The hell it is! You were always the bird's little syncophant. Always sucking up to Tantius and-"

"And you were always trying to get yourself thrown out an airlock."

"They killed my family!"

"You think you're special?" Mara shot back.

"I think you're-"

Kaiden, in a burst of bravery that would impress Shepard on further reflection- not many people had the guts to interfere in a fight between warriors like her and Ashley- shoved himself in between them, arms out. "Ok, ok," he interjected, "that's enough. We're in public. We don't need this attention."

Shepard backed down first, "he's right, Williams."

Ashley glared another moment then shook her head, "you've got to be fucking shitting me," Shepard heard her mutter, "But yeah," she said after a moment, "he is right. I guess."

From her dark look this wasn't over.

"I thought you two were friends," Kaiden said incredulously.

Ashley laughed cynically, "Tantius didn't really let anyone be friends. But we weren't enemies." Kaiden looked confused as he considered it. Shepard looked up at the synthetic sky and took a long breath. Ashley wasn't wrong. Tantius had fostered competition at every level. Backstabbing each other was encouraged. Ashley wasn't wrong. Once she decided to play Tantius' games she had been one of the best.

She walked back to the overhang, "Hey Ash," she called. Shepard rubbed her forehead. Her head ached terribly. She could feel that throb from the beacon coming back. She had at least seven hours before she was due for another dose. The cravings had always been the worst part of the addiction, but this was something worse. It had to be the beacon.

The other woman walked over slowly. Shepard didn't look at her, even when Ashley stood directly behind her, trying to communicate a truce. "Look out there," she gestured out at the wards, "remind you of anything."

"Yeah," Ash said after a moment, "reminds me of looking out over the city."

Shepard nodded. She remembered climbing the apartment building to the roof to cook their meager rations on the roof over a trash can fire when the turians had cut off the power grid. Her father had made up a song about "chicken on a stick" for John.

"Dad thought we'd be safe there," Ashley said.

Shepard nodded, "mine too."

They were both quiet. "Ash, I had an experience… there was some kind of beacon, from some extinct civilization. It put something in my head."

Ash was looking at her again, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Something came for them," she said, "something bad. And that thing is coming for everyone here. There are kids out there like we were…" she trailed off.

Ashley shook her head, "how do you know?"

"I don't," Shepard admitted, "but it felt real," she infused her voice with more confidence, "I believe it was real."

Ashley looked back out at the city, "so now you're a big fucking hero," she scoffed, "I think I'll pass on this one." She pulled up her hood, hiding her facial tattoos as much as practical, She started to walk away and then said, "I'll send you some contact info. If I can help, let me know. For old times sake."

Shepard shut her eyes, blocking out the view of the city. The lights were re-igniting her headache. "He's different than Tantius, Ash." Did she really believe that? She wasn't sure. He was playing by a set of rule she didn't know or understand. She had to believe that he wasn't Tantius. That didn't mean she understood what he actually was.

"Is he really different?" Ashley asked, "or do you just want him to be. Like it or not, we're just tools to them. Just tools you can break and throw away. You were always better at these fucked up games than I was, but I hope you wake up to it soon. You deserve better. We all do."

Shepard didn't turn, but she knew Ash had gone. Kaiden walk up beside her. She appreciated that he approached from her peripheral, so she could see him out of the corner of her eye before he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Sounds like a complicated relationship," he said carefully.

She nodded, "you could say that."

She and Ashley had been at each other's throats after Tantius had purchased Ash from another unit. But there had been a camaraderie to it, a sort of "anything you can do I can do better," relationship. She had been the strongest of biotics. Ash had been the lead combat expert. Tantius liked to set them up in sparring matches against each other when he had visitors. For entertainment. Kaiden looked at her, waiting for her to say more. She thought about it and rubbed her forehead again. "Kaiden…" she said, "later, maybe. I- I don't think I can right now…" She sighed, "It was a different time."

"Okay," he said, "we should head to C-Sec. We can run some errands on the way, get you some decent clothes."

Shepard pushed away from the railing, "yeah, ok. We should update the Commander too."

As they stepped away Kaiden gave her a mischievous grin, "so about sparring?"

Shepard winked at him, "maybe later, Alenko. If you're lucky."

* * *

Decima watched the Commander pace up and down the Ambassador's office for a moment, then glanced back down at her datapad. She flipped through a list of cases generated by C-Sec in the past week. It was a long shot, but if they were going to catch Saren, maybe some of his compatriots had been causing trouble here on the citadel too.

Orinia tapped away at her console, then glanced up as Garrus heaved another sigh, "Commander, take a seat."

Garrus let out a low thrumming growl, "Saren's a fucking bastard, _someone_ needs to put him down."

Orinia waved a talon dismissively, "yes we know. That's why we're here."

Decima scrolled down through the brief summaries, highlighting a few that seemed relevant

_Location: KithoiWard_

_Event: report of stolen credit chit_

_Victim: Alia T'nari, (asari)_

_Location: Zakera Ward_

_Event: shots fired outside Flux_

_Victim: unknown, reported by Bas Nalan (Volus)_

Nothing unusual there. Zakera was a bad neighborhood. Mostly displaced humans had set up some disgraceful encampment there. It was the third such report she had seen. She was about to dismiss it, bout something seemed off. It wasn't like she had better leads. She tapped the ridge beside her eye with a talon a moment and then requested all similar reports from C-Sec, both open and closed cases.

"We're going to put him down," Decima said absently, "as soon as we figure out how. Now sit down," she glanced up, "you're distracting me.

"He killed a SpecTRe," Garrus snarled, "one of us and you're just...sitting there."

Orinia glanced up, "we are trying to figure out how to bring him down," she glared at Garrus, "legally. You can't just get in your ship and run after him."

"Why not?" Decima asked. Mandibles flicking with amusement.

Orinia was not amused, "because the Commander made me a promise that what happened in New York would never happen again."

Garrus stopped pacing. His mandibles pulled in tight, and he carefully sat down. Decima chuckled. He hated talking about New York. He had been a younger commander then, and considered the decisions that had ended the war rash.

Her whole unit had blown all to hell in New York when the humans had decided to blow up half a block to slow their progress. Killed a ton of their own people to get a few dozen turians. She had spent the next few weeks flushing humans out of the sewer and subway tunnels like rats. She knew too many bright, promising, young turians who had died in that explosion and later in the tunnels. Perhaps it was callous, but she had a hard time giving a shit when they started penning them up and divvying them up between the hierarchy and the mercs.

She liked Garrus's brashness. She appreciated that he wanted to get the job done, and damn your feelings about how. She disliked that he held himself so personally responsible for the human's problems. But no one was perfect. They made a good team.

Her data pad chirped and she glanced down at the stream of data.

"So Garrus," Orinia asked, not looking up, "what _are _you going to do with the Dometia?" She changed the subject from Saren deftly, looking up just long enough to nail the Commander with a skeptical look.

Decima raised an eyebrow and glanced up; she was curious too, but she had already questioned the Commander enough to make him snap at her. Her advice had been to get the asari to get whatever came from that beacon out of her head and then get her off the warship one way or another. The last thing they needed was mentally unstable biotic running around the cramped quarters of The Normandy. Maybe it was cruel, but Dometia only were kept under control by hard leaders who punished them severely for even the slightest infraction. That's why Shepard was covered in scars, why she had a nose that appeared to have been broken more than once.

Spirits, if her last owner had dropped her in the pits, she may have been genuinely out of her mind.

Garrus looked thoughtful for a long moment, "she's an excellent fighter. Plus she's got the beacon in her head," he said slowly, "until we know what she knows we can't afford to lose her as a resource."

"She doesn't even know what she knows," Decima said.

"Exactly," Garrus said, "luckily we have an asari who happens to be a prothean expert, and she and Shepard seem to have some kind of rapport."

Orinia looked skeptical, she breathed a long sigh after a moment, "Garrus don't put that poor girl through more than you have to." She paused and shook her head, "and if turns out to be more trouble than she's worth..."

Garrus held up both hands, "I hear it. You aren't the first person to give me advice about her." His gaze flicked to Decima.

Decima twitched a mandible in annoyance. The people were too soft. Give the humans an inch and they'd destroy the hierarchy. They should have bombed out the cities instead of trying to take them.

Orinia looked skeptical as well, but finally nodded. She pressed a last key on her terminal and nodded. Standing she paced, arms loosely clasped behind her back. "I've filed a petition with Councilor Sparatus. Should you find evidence against Saren he will advance it to a council vote. This would make you a full council SpecTRe charged with tracking down Saren and eliminating any threat from the Geth."

Garrus looked surprised, but said nothing.

"In the meantime," Orinia said, "we need you to chase down any lead you can. If we're to bring down Saren, we need to find hard evidence connecting him to what happened on Eden Prime."

"Why not go after Nielson?" Decima asked, "he's already classified as a terrorist threat by the hierarchy."

"Because," Orinia responded, "his colony is located somewhere on an asari planet. We go after that, we may as well declare war against the Asari, which could lead to a full scale war between council space and the Terminus systems."

Decima sat back, "so we let the terrorist walk?"

Garrus caught on, "No. If we connect him to Saren and the Geth, the asari will give him up."

"Exactly, Commander," Orinia said, "so," she glanced at Decima, "any leads?"

Decima let out a long breath, "it's a long shot."

Garrus stood, "we currently don't have any kind of shot, long or otherwise."

Decima let out a breath, the muscles around her eyes tightening. "Ok, here's what I've got. There are six reports of shots fired in Zakara ward. Three asari, a volus, a turian, and..." she paused, "a quarian."

"So?" Garrus asked.

"So the quarian's report is partial. Some C-Sec asshole probably ran her off."

Orinia made an annoyed hum, "I still don't see how this relates."

Decima flicked an annoyed mandible, "I said it was a long shot. So shut up and let me explain."

Garrus chuckled, "alright el-tee, what've you got?"

"No one saw the shooter, so who knows?" She shrugged, "could have been one of Saren's. And the quarian said she had some information. There's a report here but it's open and shut. Like I said, they probably ran her off."

"So," Garrus said, "we're going to track down the quarian for information that only _might_ be relevant."

Decima shook her head, "got a better lead?"

"No," Garrus said, "I guess not." He let out a sigh, "where would you recommend we start?"

"Well..." Decima said, "If I were a wounded quarian, where would I go?"

"There's a clinic in Zakara ward," Orinia suggested, "mostly caters to humans, but if you want to avoid getting noticed it would be a better spot to run to then Huerta."

"I guess that's what we've got for right now," said Garrus.

"C'mon Commander," said Decima, "I've got a good feeling about this one."

"Then let's go find ourselves a quarian."

The two headed out of the office when Garrus paused, Omni-tool chirping. He pulled up the message.

"Our humans," he said after a moment, "may have found a lead. I'm telling them to meet us at the clinic."

Decima paused, "you already know what I think, Commander."

Garrus shook his head, "you're going to have to learn to live with the humans Decima."

Decima shook her head, "I can lives with her. I just don't trust her."

Garrus made a thoughtful sound.

"But," she said honestly, "I trust you Commander."

* * *

"So tell me something, Shepard," Kaiden said as they walked towards C-Sec.

They had made a stop off on the way, Shepard had gotten measured for better fitting armor and mesh. Kaiden had also talked her into a rapid stop at a clothing store that sold items for humans. She owned nothing, but she maintained that she had clothes for the ship and armor for everywhere else. She had never owned anything more, and what more did she really need? Kaiden had insisted and they had put in requisition orders for a few sets of clothes and self care items. It wouldn't do for one of Garrus Vakarian's humans to be walking around in sweatpants everywhere.

"Shoot," Shepard was half jogging. She checked herself and slowed down, but something said that time was of the essence if they were going to catch Saren. Anytime she thought about letting him escape she saw Jensen's face, sheet white as his hands clutched at his bleeding gut. She head Nirali's hoarse cry of primal fear as she was overrun. She felt a hum in her mind and saw those same inhuman shapes in the smoke of London. That pounding in her head was imagined, right? Probably some psychosomatic leftover from the beacon.

"You got picked up in New York, right?"

"Yeah." It figured he knew. He had probably been through her records on behalf of the commander.

"How come you're not an L2?"

Shepard glanced sharply over.

"Turians used'em in the military for years. It took the counsel straight up telling them no more before they switched to the L3's." Kaiden sounded bitter.

"You an L2 I take it?" She didn't know much about L2 implants. Just that they were problematic.

"yeah," Kaiden said.

Shepard thought a moment, "Tantius," she said after a moment, "viewed all of us as assets or drains and he only had so many of us to experiment on. The council they had… all of you. And they view biotics as a weird kind of inconvenience from what I've heard. They're suspicion of us. Even the turian biotics." She hesitated, "Tantius wanted us powerful, but, more than that, he wanted us hooked and dependent and _loyal. _If half of us went nuts from our implants that was less for him._"_

Kaiden considered this, "sounds like a real stand up guy."

"Oh yeah," Shepard said, "oodles of virtue. That's what he was known for, in fact. That and his damn big heart."

Kaiden laughed, but Shepard missed Ashley, suddenly, even as she chuckled along with him. She would understand what she was saying. She and Ashley had experienced the same thing. She missed other Dometia. It was a strange kind of homesickness.

_You should put her out of her misery. _Saren had said.

No way. Not after she had fought this hard to survive.

"So it was cost/risk analysis?" Kaiden asked.

"Basically," Shepard said, "It wasn't like the Pits where we needed to put on a show all the time. With Tantius, we were all just weapons he was trying to make the most of." She glanced at him, "you an L2?"

"Yeah," Kaiden said, "I just got migraines though. I'm _lucky." _The emphasis on the word lucky sounded angry and bitter.

"I'm sorry about that," she said awkwardly. She didn't feel sorry, but she wasn't sure what to say. Kaiden and Joker seemed so… normal. She remembered being like that once. Before the drugs and the abuse and all of Tantius's mental fuckery. It was painful and terrible to think things might have been different. She would gladly trade for migraines if it meant having kind eyes. If it meant she hadn't see what she had seen.

"Where did the turians get you?" She asked finally. "Is that how you got your implants?"

Kaiden waved a hand, "I was a pretty unstable as a teenager. My parents got my implants put in where we lived in Vancouver."

Biotics tended towards unstable, depending on their power. Shepard had been implanted the second she had manifested biotic potential. Human's before the war had been different. Some of the weaker ones hand't ever been implanted. The stronger ones could be so unstable the only way for them to gain control was through implants and training.

"Vancouver?" She asked.

"Yeah," he said, "but my dad moved us out of the city before the war really hit." He shrugged, "when Vancouver went down they rounded up some of the smaller towns, including mine. Some turians just showed up one day. Sent me and the other biotic kid there off to Gagarin for training."

Shepard raised her eyebrows, "that sounds... less dramatic than New York."

Kaiden shook his head, "it was after that. We lost. Everyone just wanted it to be over."

Shepard nodded, "makes sense. Where did they send you."

Kaiden shook his head, "I've got some bad memories too, Shepard. Maybe later."

Shepard looked at him sharply. She realized she hadn't considered that he had any problems at all. He seemed so...normal. After a moment she nodded. There was something there to think about.

They approached c-sec and both of them grew quieter. There were more people here than down in the wards, and notably, none of them were humans. Whatever humans did to police themselves it didn't involve many humans.

They skirted around the edges looking for any sign of a Krogan.

"Maybe her intel was wrong," Kaiden muttered.

Shepard looked out across the chamber and grinned, "maybe not."

A Krogan emerged from the interrogation room. He was a good six and half feet tall if he was an inch. Shepard raised her eyebrows, impressed. She had heard about Krogan charges, and she had to admit, if Wrex had charged at her she might just back down.

He was in the middle of an intense looking conversation with a c-sec turian, "stay away from him."

"I don't take orders from you," the Krogan said, clearly unthreatened.

"Wrex," said the turian, "this is your only warning."

The Krogan-Wrex- chuckled, "you should warn Fist; I will kill him."

"You want me to arrest you?"

The Krogan leaned closer, "I want you to try."

Shepard and Kaiden both glanced at each pother. Kaiden's eyes were shining with humor. It was nice to see one of the turians get intimidated for once. The c-sec officer stepped back, "Go on! Get out of here!"

The Krogan grunted and walked by.

Shepard leaned against a wall trying to look casual and nodded at Wrex. Jerking her head to beckon him over.

He squinted at them, then redirected his course towards them.

"You're the humans with that turian," he said gruffly.

Shepard stood her ground and looked up at the Krogan. She had never seen one up close. He was even bigger now then she had anticipated. Some of the Blue Suns had fought Bloodpack on Omega, but never her. She had been on Illium instead. Not many Eclipse Krogan, and definitely none she had ever met.

Krogan were bigger than she had thought from the vids. This one was glaring at her. She glared back and met his eyes. She might owe obsequiousness to the Turians, but the Krogan? They had their own bone to pick with Turians. She doubted disrespect would get her in too much trouble with any of the turians.

"Shepard," she said calmly, then jerked her chin at Kaiden, "that's Alenko. Heard from an associate of Barla Von that you might know something about Saren. We're bringing him down."

The Krogan looked her up and down, then gave Alenko a cursory glance.

"Barla Von is a wise man. I may share common goal with your owner."

Shepard raised an eyebrow, "how so?"

"I'm hunting down one of yours, a human named Fist who did something very foolish."

"Yeah?" Shepard asked, "What'd he do?"

"He betrayed the shadow broker. A quarian showed up here on the citadel. She was on the run. She wanted to trade information for a safe place to hide, so she went to Fist. He promised to arrange a meeting between her and the Shadow Broker. Instead, he contacted Saren."

Shepard crossed her arms, none of this was sounding particularly helpful. "What does Saren have to do with this?"

"Well, the quarian has something to connect Saren to the Geth," Wrex said, "He payed Fist a small fortune for her."

She glanced at Kaiden and he nodded. "We get our hands on the quarian," he said, "we find the evidence we need to link Saren and the Geth."

Shepard's brow furrowed, "He might already have her," she said.

"Nah," the Krogan said, "Last I heard Fist had her, probably got her somewhere in his club. You let me kill fist, she's all yours."

Shepard shrugged, "sounds fair. We hit the clinic first, then go after Fist."

Kaiden pulled up his omni-tool, "I'll send a message off to the Commander."

"Hmph," grumped the Krogan, "At least Krogan don't take orders from Turians."

Shepard looked at him darkly, "at least we aren't about to go extinct." There was a long pause. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Alenko bracing for impact. But the Krogan laughed, "you've got a quad human." He punched her shoulder and it was all she could do not to take a couple steps back. As if sensing her discomfort, the Krogan chuckled again and strode off, "you coming human?"

Shepard glanced at Kaiden, who nodded, "Commander wants him to meet us at some clinic first," he said.

"You okay with a stop off," Shepard called to the Krogan.

"Your loss if the quarian ends up dead he said."

Shepard looked at Kaiden, who shrugged, "I'll mark the clinic navpoint. Let's go."

They followed after the Krogan at a trot.

The clinic was located deep in the wards, shrouded by cramped housing. The only giveaway that it was a medical facility was a window with an old Red Cross flag plastered on the inside. The crowd abated back here, compared to the main areas of a the Zakera Ward and it wasn't far from C-Sec. Made sense, Shepard reflected. If someone C-Sec wasn't interested in hearing from needed help, it wasn't a far walk.

"Commander's still a few blocks away," Kaiden said.

Shepard surveyed the building, leaning against the side of a pre-fab.

"Wait or head in?" She asked

"Whatever you do," Wrex said, "I'd do it fast if you want that Quarian."

Shepard glanced at Wrex, "calm down. You'll get your bounty."

Wrex grunted.

"Hey Shepard," Kaiden said, "that look... okay to you?"

A couple of humans were making their way into the clinic. They wore full armor and were heavily armed. 'Hmm," Shepard said, "doesn't look like they're coming around for their annual check up."

"We should go in," Kaiden said.

"Wrex, follow us up and cover the exits," She said, "try not to scare any of the humans in there."

Wrex chuckled, "What's to be scared of?"

"Yeah," she said, rolling her eyes, "you're just a big teddy bear. I can tell."

"I'm taking point," she said to Kaiden, "keep me covered." He nodded and she walked up to the door. Before she pressed the mechanism she glanced at Kaiden. He nodded.

She pressed the button and the door opened. Across from. The Commander was crouched behind a ledge. Decima was beside him. Vakarian made an urgent gesture for her to get down. Immediately Shepard went low, ducking left behind a crate of medical supplies. There was barely a moment to observe the full situation as she peered around the side.

One of the men was pivoting, a woman in a lab coat held securely to his chest, a gun to her head. He was looking at Kaiden. The man holding a gun to the doctor hadn't seen her.

She darted to the other side of the container, leaving Kaiden and Wrex framed in the open door.

"You move," said the thug, "and I will shoot this-..."

He didn't finish his sentence. Shepard popped up six feet to the left of Kaiden and with a clear line of fire. She took a single shot. The sound of her gun filled small space and the man fell backwards in a burst of blood from his skull. The doctor screamed and fell flat to the ground.

Kaiden entered, gun pointed, Wrex on his heels, gun pointed at the remaining thugs.

Garrus moved fast, sliding over a low wall in the middle of the room and grabbing the doctor around the waist, dragging her roughly to cover. He shoved the woman down roughly by the shoulder.

"Kaiden," Decima said, "push."

The biotic sent a powerful mass effect field hurtling towards the boxes the thugs were using as cover. The collapsed, and the room filled with the sound of cracking bones and screaming men.

Shepard advanced carefully, pistol out. Two more gunshots filled the room and she turned, holstering her weapon. "Clear," she called.

The Commander was standing, arms folded, "nice shot Shepard," he said. She was about to respond, when Decima stepped towards her, mandible flared open with anger, "The hell was that? You could have killed the witness."

Shepard took a step back, blinking in surprise. "I didn't think," she said, "I reacted. I-..." she glanced at the doctor who was standing slowly, rubbing her arm, "she looks fine to me."

"Calm down el-tee," The Commander said. He looked at Shepard, and nodded slowly, "it turned out fine."

Decima faced him, "this time," she said coldly, "I told you she was a risk."

Shepard glanced between them, wondering, not for the first time, what the hell kind of place she had landed herself since leaving The Pits. "Thank you, sir." She said slowly, and nodded to the lieutenant.

She turned to where Kaiden was helping the doctor to her feet.

"Are you hurt?" He asked.

The doctor brushed off her lab coat and glanced at the turians with concern. "No," she said slowly, "I'm okay. Thanks to you. All of you."

Kaiden helped her to one of the exam beds and the doctor sat, looking shell shocked. Shepard took a step back, leaning against the ledge. With the flight over her body was giving her a reminder of the injuries she had sustained back on Eden Prime. She felt fatigued from the past day and her ribs ached.

Suddenly, Shepard wanted nothing more than a nap. She had long ago grown used to ignoring pain and exhaustion though, so she focused on the questions Vakarian was asking.

"Do you know why they were after you? What did they want?"

The Doctor, glanced from Vakarian to Decima, licking her lips. Kaiden glanced at the turians reprovingly, "she's frightened. Let me."

He turned back to the doctor, "Easy there. No one's going to hurt you," he said quietly, "but we need to talk to you. What's your name?"

"Michel," she said, "Chloe Michel. I'm a doctor here."

"Doctor Michel," Kaiden said, "did they say why they were here?"

The doctor nodded. Her movements were quick and jerky, "they were Fist's men."

"Ok," Kaiden said evenly, "why were they here?"

"The quarian," the doctor said taking a deep breath, "they didn't want me to tell you- to tell anyone about the quarian. They were supposed to shut me up."

Shepard and Kaiden glanced at each other. She snuck a peek at Garrus and Decima who had similar expressions. They must have found the same information from another angle.

"She was wounded, wasn't she?" Decima asked.

The doctor nodded, "I asked her who it was but she wouldn't tell me. She was scared and needed a place to hide. She asked about the shadow broker. She wanted to trade information for somewhere to hide."

That must be who Barla Von, and by extension, Ashley was working for, Shepard mused. It would make sense if The Shadow Broker had wanted her information and then they were trying to cut him out of the deal. "You sent her to Fist," she said. The doctor looked at her, nodded again.

"He's an agent for the Shadow Broker."

Wrex spoke up, attracting the attention of both turians for the first time, "Not anymore. And the Shadow Broker isn't too happy about it."

The doctor made a sound of disgust, "why would Fist do that? That's stupid even for him."

"She must have something Saren wants," Garrus said, "something he's willing to cross the Shadow Broker to get."

Decima stepped towards the doctor, "What else can you tell us? Anything else about the quarian? What kind of information did she have?"

Kaiden looked at Decima, a dark look on his face, then turned back to the doctor, "anything you can tell us helps," he said.

"I don't-..." she said, "I can't remember."

"it's okay," Kaiden soothed. Shepard was glad he was hear. Not many humans or turians would find her a comforting presence at all. They would hate and fear her, even if they hadn't encountered a Dometia personally. There were enough stories. She had already seen the disdainful glances and the humans that stepped out of her way around the wards.

"The Geth!" the doctor exclaimed suddenly, "her information had something to do with the Geth."

Shepard nodded, "whatever the quarian had," she pointed out, "probably connects Saren to the Geth."

"That's the evidence we need," said Garrus.

"But, umm," he glanced at Wrex, "who is the Krogan?"

"The Krogan," said Wrex, "has a name." He scowled at the turians, "his name is Urdnot Wrex."

"Hmph," Decima said, "and why are you hear?'

Kaiden glanced up, "he's after Fist. He told Shepard and I about the quarian and offered to help in exchange for filling his contract."

Garrus took a long breath and then said, "Shepard stay with the doctor. Keep her safe. Everyone else... let's get Fist."

She felt a bolt of rage down her spine, "What? Why should I stay here?"

"Doc didn't clear you for full duty yet," he said stepping past her. He looked back, a soothing undertone to his voice, "don't worry, Shepard. You've did good. We'll let you know if we need you."

The Commander gave Wrex a long stern look, "can you follow orders, or will we have a problem?"

"Don't worry," Wrex said, "all I care about is getting Fist. As long as he isn't getting away, I'll follow your orders."

Garrus turned away and started out of the clinic, "I guess that will have to do." He paused in the door, "Shepard I'm keeping an open comms channel. You'll hear everything. If we need you we'll call."

She nodded, snapping into a salute, hand to heart, automatically. The Commander nodded, a grimace around his eyes, and then exited the clinic. Shepard leaned back with a groan.

"Are you okay?" The doctor asked.

"Stay there, doc." She said, "I'm fine. I'm just...tired." It was true, as the adrenaline wore off, as the turians and Kaiden vanished, she felt her energy flag.

The woman looked at her with an expression of sympathy. "Sit down."

Mara hesitated for a moment. Doctor Michel touched her arm. She flinched away reflexively. "Come sit down."

Gently, the Doctor took her arm and guided her to a chair.

"Doc," she said, "you just got shot at. Let me..." She lowered her head. She could feel the throb she had been keeping at bay all afternoon starting back up. She took a long breath.

The doctor, patted her cheek gently, "Let me examine you. I need to do...something. It will help me."

"There's a dead man on your floor doctor," Shepard said, "I should-"

"Please," the doctor said, "stay there. Let me see. Where do you hurt?"

"You aren't..?" Shepard pulled back, "why?"

The doctor reached down slowly, cupped her cheek. "I had a niece once. They took her. I'd want to know another human had examined her."

Shepard nodded, "My head," she said after a moment, "It hurts. Other than that I'm fine." For a moment she considered mentioning her injured ribs, but she didn't want to take off her armor here. She didn't know this woman, and no matter what sad story she might have, she didn't want to expose anything vulnerable.

Dr Michel seemed to understand.

"I have some pain killers," she said softly, "and something for that bruise on your eye. Let me help."

Shepard nodded, and the doctor went to work.


	8. Following Orders

_A/N: A couple things and content warning-_

_First of all, to everyone who is reading, favoriting, bookmarking, commenting and sending kudos…I love you all so much. I am honored and humbled and flattered. I hope I continue to create an interesting an engaging story and I absolutely love hearing from you_

_Second, This is an 8,000+ word monster and I'm sorry it's so long. I'm actually really proud of this section though so hopefully it's enjoyable._

_Third, this chapter contains mentions of childhood physical and emotional abuse. Reader be wary._

* * *

**2172**

"You're leaving me behind?"

Mara paced the floor of her cell and reached a hand up to tap her nails against the biotic locking collar. It was a nervous tic she had developed shortly after her implants had been installed a few years prior. She forced her hand down and formed it into a fist, clenching it until her knuckles were white. That looked better than tapping the collar. Strong instead of angry. She needed to look angry.

From his spot in front of the bars Tantius watched her impassively.

"We're taking down a rebel colony. After the stunt you pulled on Tiptree, you're lucky I haven't decided to discard you...yet." There was a long thoughtful space before that last word that made Mara stop and look up at him in alarm. Tantius had already explained to her exactly how much money she would fetch at some seedy club working the back room, and exactly what would be done to her once she was there.

Some turians enjoyed breaking humans, he had said, your biotics would just make it more fun.

She had been lying on the ground, at the time, in a pool of her own blood, tears of pain tracking down her cheeks. Tantius had sat down beside her once he had finished the beating. He stroked her hair with one taloned hand as he gave her an in depth description of her options. It was calculated tenderness after a the storm of his rage. A reminder- _it doesn't have to hurt. But it can. Fall in line, or you are gone._

After a short stay in medical for the worst of it she had been brought here to this tiny cell until she was patched up enough to return to duty.

There had been no visitors. She had no one to talk to as her wounds healed. There was a daily visit from the doctor. He said nothing, changed her bandages, gave her some drugs, and left. She had spent the time staring at the walls of the cell and thinking of all the things she wished she had done differently. She had wanted to cry, but there were guards nearby. She couldn't show that kind of weakness.

Tiptree had been a terrible mistake. She had let the kid get under her skin. She had let herself care. It should never have happened. She should have stayed at the clinic where they had treated her mild frostbite and been quiet until she had the signal to bring down the defenses. But Jeff had ship models and she had been hungry for friendship and bored of sitting around all day. It wouldn't happen again, it _couldn't._ Tantius was going to give her another chance and this time she wouldn't mess it up.

Except that Tantius was here and telling her he was leaving her here and attacking a colony and she wasn't necessary. If she let herself be left out now she might as well consign herself to not being needed again.

Mara turned to Tantius, heart thudding with fear in her chest and began another pace. "I've learned my lesson," she said, pleading, "I'll follow orders I'll be-..."

"Shepard."

Mara stopped and turned to face the turian, "come here," he said. She approached slowly, heart in her throat and knelt at his feet. Only the bars separated them. She placed her fist over her heart. She snuck a peek up at Tantius. He was looking down at her, considering. Finally he bent enough to reach a hand through the bars and run a talon under her chin, allowing her to look him in the face.

"You're wounds have barely healed." He pointed out. White bandages still poked out from under her shirt. Her body felt achey and slow, but she couldn't afford to show weakness.

Mara set her jaw, "I'm strong enough. Let me show you."

"And your heart, dear Mara." Tantius murmured, "is that strong enough?"

"Please," she said, "give me a chance to show you."

Tantius removed his hand. "Get up," he said, after a moment. Shepard got to her feet in a smooth motion, though the skin around her eyes was taut with nerves and pain. Carefully, she arranged herself appropriately with shoulders back, hands clasped at the small of her back.

Tantius surveyed her a moment and nodded.

"I'll be assigning you to a handler," Tantius said, "there's potential in you that I don't intend to squander if I don't have to. Do as you're told, and we'll talk about what happens next."

"Yes sir," Mara said, eyes down. Relief flooded her.

"And Shepard," Tantius said as he turned to leave, "this is your last chance. Don't mess it up."

The colony didn't put up much of a fight. They never did. They always tried, but beneath hacked defenses and a strong infantry, they melted like butter.

The hierarchy had a nicer way of doing things, but the Suns just wanted the bounties and sales. When the colony was well and truly theirs, Shepard's handler led her to a fence. There were people tied to it. Ten or so, of varying ages and genders. The youngest just a bit too old to get tattoos and be trained as Dometia. Training for such a role needed young, malleable minds. The oldest there was old enough to be her grandmother.

"Tantius doesn't want these," the turian said, "get rid of them." Shepard's heart climbed into her throat, "Who are they?" She asked. One hand reached out, tapping her collar, the comforting clink of metal against nails. A drop of sweat rolled down the back of her neck. She put her hand back down and clenched her fist.

"Does it matter?" The turian shoved her forward, "Use your pistol."

Mara's hand's shook as she reached for her sidearm. There was a cut above her eye from a short scuffle with a guard leaking blood into her field of vision and she used her the back of her off hand to wipe it away. Her sweat stung the cut and her eyes. She took one long breath and aimed at the first man in the line.

He glared at her and spat, it landed on her cheek and she stepped back, disgusted.

"Fucking traitor," he yelled, pulling at his ropes. She backed away, paced the line.

_I don't want to be here. I don't want to do this._

The turian handler watched her in silence.

She looked at the man and wanted to scream. Couldn't he see that, she wanted to scream. Whatever held her together felt as if it was tearing apart. The man pulled at his bonds, ready to fight, still. Twice her age and he wanted to kill her. She felt a surge of rage.

How dare he judge her.

Shepard took aim, hands steady now, and fired. One person, one shot. She saved the one who had spat on her for last. He was quiet now, and she pressed the cold metal of the gun barrel to his head. He looked at her, no anger left, only cold sorrow and pity that made something inside her twist.

_I will show you how hard my heart can be._

She narrowed her eyes and pulled the trigger

* * *

**2182**

"Would you like some water," Doctor Michel asked.

Shepard blinked and then nodded, "yes, please."

She pressed a hand to her ear listening to the squad chatter. They were at the entrance of the club and already were encountering massive resistance. More than anything Shepard wanted to jump from her chair and go help. She wanted to prove her worth to the Commander. He needed some reason to keep her around.

Despite what Kaiden might say, she didn't see what would keep her on Commander Vakarian's ship after they had fished whatever they needed from the beacon out of her head. They'd use Liara to do that, somehow-Asari had weird brain powers- and then she would be...

What? Probably spaced. If she was lucky she'd be dead before she got shoved in the airlock.

She accepted a glass of water from the doctor and sipped it. She could disobey orders and go join them, but every ounce of her training screamed at her not to do that. Obedience at any cost.

And like it or not, the Commander was right. She wasn't healed. A fight like the one they were experiencing now would be bad for her. She doubted her biotics were up for much use after the hard fight she had on Eden Prime. She could use them after a day of overdrawing, but she'd be weaker and it would lengthen her recovery time. Her amp still felt warm just from a small use of biotics.

"Are you okay? How are you feeling? " The doctor asked quietly, sitting across from her.

Shepard glanced at her. The woman's face was still pale, but she had stopped shaking.

"I've had a hard few fights," she said honestly, " but I'm well enough." She glanced at the bodies on the floor. "You got a plan to get your clinic cleaned out doc?"

The doctor flushed, "It didn't seem prudent to call for help with the Commander around." She smiled, "don't worry, I have friends here."

"And," Shepard said quietly, "if you want to keep them it would be prudent for me not to stay long."

The doctor fingered the hem of her coat, "I won't ask you to leave." there was a subtext there she understood. Michel couldn't call for help until she left, but she wasn't going to kick her out. Probably, more because of fear of the turian Commander she was with.

Shepard nodded, shoulders slumping, "I won't stay longer than I have to, doc."

"That's not what I meant," Doctor Michel said. She pulled up a chair and sat down across from her. "I told you that the Blue Suns took my niece. Her parents ran to New York with her. They thought they'd be safe."

Shepard nodded, "I don't know." She said softly, "There were a lot of us taken doctor. Was she a biotic?"

The doctor shook her head, "no."

"How old was she?"

"She was ten. She had blond hair and brown eyes, like mine," the desperation in the doctor's voice was palatable. Shepard swallowed.

Shepard sighed, "if she wasn't biotic, I don't know. She might be Dometia, she might be..." she waved a hand. The Blue Suns had used a number of their captures as miners or low level grunts. If that was the case, she was probably dead.

"I...understand," Doctor Michel said, she reached out, took Mara's hand. She looked down at the doctor's small, pale hand enveloping her armored one. "If she were taken like you were, I'd want her to know, what ever they made her do- it wasn't her fault."

Shepard looked up at her, pulling her hand back. It was a sentence she wasn't prepared for. Couldn't have prepared for. She wasn't sure why such a thing could hurt. She clenched her fist, pulling it back as if she had been injured.

"Doctor-..." she said, "that's kind of you but... I need to go."

The clinic felt suddenly small, too small for her. She couldn't seem to draw a full breath or relax. "You should call your people," she said, brushing past the concerned doctor, "Get these bodies out." Her voice was brusk, authoritative.

The doctor only looked at her kindly, "As you say."

She burst through the door of the clinic, starting towards one of the overlook ledges. If she could get there she could catch her breath. She could relax for a moment.

She ran into someone, reflexively grabbing them by the shoulders and pushing them away from herself, "I'm sorry," she murmured, "excuse me." She started to brush past.

The person she had run into pushed her back. "What the fuck?" Shepard looked up. He was a human with angry eyes. "One of you?" He exclaimed. He spat and it landed on her boot. She looked down at it, then turned quickly and strode away not fast enough to hear him say, "fucking traitorous bitch."

She froze a moment, turned back to the man. He wilted ever so slightly as her eyes flickered across him, then she walked down the street. The insult worked to reset her and she made it to an overlook with no further mishaps. Across the citadel ward arms the lights of cities gleamed.

She took a few long deep breaths.

Mara hadn't expected to be put so off balance by kindness, she hadn't expected to remember that little backwater town where Tantius had made her prove her loyalty. One of the girls tied to the fence had been her own age. She had been begging when Mara had pointed the gun.

It had been years since she had thought of it. She felt nauseous.

Fuck. It had to be the beacon. It was messing with her memories. With her head. She fished a nutrient bar from her pack, the last one, she noted, and chewed on it. With food readily available, her intake had gone up. That, and the biotic overdraw. She was always starving the day after she overused.

The Pits hadn't give her enough exercise, her biotics were weaker than she remembered. She should talk to Kaiden about how to get a better Amp. She felt that if she used one more ounce of biotic energy hers would start sparking. Argus had been such a goddamn cheapskate. But pain was easy to ignore. She hadn't stayed alive this long by lying down every time she had an bruise.

"Shepard?" Garrus's voice on the comms broke through her thoughts. "Shepard you there?"

Taking a deep breath Mara straightened and pressed a hand to her ear, "I'm here Commander. Ready for orders."

"We have a nav-point for the quarian. She's about to walk into an ambush and we're pinned. Sending it to you now. Get there fast." Even from here she could make out the alarm and urgency in his subvocals.

"On it," she checked her Omni-tool. A point was already blinking. Not too far away, but she needed to hurry. She headed down the hallway.

"Shepard," Garrus said, "don't even think about doing anything reckless. "Take them down, but I need you walking after."

"Understood, sir."

She broke into a jog. The pace would keep her focused. Take her mind off of the past. It didn't matter anyways. The corpses were cold, no going back. She repeated the old stale mantras over and over. The only thing that mattered was that she walked away in the end.

The alleyways she was headed through were narrow and maze-like. From the windows people hung laundry to dry. There was no trash, thanks to the keepers, but it had the same feel as the alleys she had run through in New York. It was as if she were about to encounter something hostile at any moment. When she was a child she would have held John's hand and scurried through, hoping to remain unnoticed. Now she knew, in this neighborhood, she was probably the biggest predator around.

Shepard darted around the a bend and vaulted a trash can, ribs sending up a painful protest. She slowed as she approached the area where the quarian's meeting was supposed to be, ducking behind some crates and using them to give herself cover.

She slid around the next corner and moved up. There were stairs leading down to a small alcove in the wall just a head. A turian with heavy white face paint was leaning against it. She pressed a hand to her com link, "Commander," she said, whispering, "I have eyes."

"We're still fighting our way out here, Shepard," the commander's voice was even but she heard the report of his sniper rifle. "Do what you have to do to keep the Quarian alive. We'll be there when we can."

"Yes sir," she said.

She readied her shotgun as a figure shrouded in thick purple cloths and a mask approached. A quarian. That confidence she walked down the stairs with was faked and she was favoring her right shoulder. Her helmet was giving her readout that said the Quarian was running a fever too. She'd never seen one before, but she understood that, like a Volus, they couldn't expose themselves to open air without dying. In that case getting shot might be a death sentence, but Doctor Michel hadn't seemed concerned about that."Eyes on her," she murmured.

"Did you bring it?" The turian facepaint had a skull-like look. She couldn't quite identify where it came from.

"Where's the shadow broker?" The quarian asked. Damn, she sounded young. Shepard wouldn't place that voice in a human as much older than eighteen or nineteen. "Where's Fist?" the quarian asked. She slapped the turian's hand away from where he was reaching for her waist.

The turian moved a step closer, leaning over her. A pose that spoke of power and intimidation, "they'll be here," he said, "be patient."

"No,' the quarian said, "she took a step back as if finally sensing the danger she was in. "The deals off."

Shepard tensed, ready to charge in as the turian stepped back and made a hand motion. The quarian threw something, a small grenade. The crack was momentarily deafening but Shepard was prepared. She darted out from cover, barriers flashing bright blue as she ignored the searing pain from her amp. She used dark energy to harness some of the rubble, bringing it down with as much force as she could muster, directly on top of two of the assassins. Her amp seemed to quiver as if it were ready to explode.

"Get to cover," she snapped, raising her shotgun. She aimed a shot at the turian and missed. There was the sound of another shotgun and the turian was down. She turned and saw the quarian standing just out of cover, holding a smoking shotgun.

"Nice shot," she said, "cover me."

She approached slowly, looking for any enemies she had missed. The two the quarian had hit with the grenade were down, crushed beneath rubble. One had a cracked helmet, a cement brick nearby. There was blood on the visor. The other was on his stomach, a pile of rubble on his back. Shepard doubted that either one would be getting back up. The turian was down. He groaned, looked at her, coughed up blood and died.

Shepard nudged the body with her foot then turned. The quarian was standing by the crate she had been crouched behind, weapon out. She turned, "we're clear." Through the comm link she informed the Commander of the situation.

"Good," he said, "we're still our way."

Shepard glanced around. This alley wasn't safe. They were horribly exposed and she didn't want to get overpowered or outnumbered by any back up that might be on the way..

"Negative, Commander. Recommend we rendezvous someplace less exposed."

"Ambassador Orinia's, Get the Quarian there safe."

"Yes Sir."

Shepard glanced up at the quarian, "Nice shot," she said, holstering her weapon

The quarian was half panting, "Fist set me up," she said. Her voice had a strange synthetic quality from the vocal transmitter in her suit. "I knew I couldn't trust him," she added after a moment. She wasn't talking to Shepard with that last part, she was speaking mostly to herself. She sounded angry, annoyed at her own naivete.

"Were you injured?" Shepard asked giving her a once over.

The quarian spared her a glance, "I can take care of myself," she said. Shepard raised an eyebrow, "not that I'm not grateful for the help," she added after a moment. "Who are you?"

"I'm Mara Shepard," she said, "My owner, Commander Vakarian wants to speak to you about some evidence you have.

"Then I can repay you for saving my life, but not here. Someplace safe."

Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, I'm already on it. Let's move."

The Quarian stood there a moment, breathing hard, "I was supposed to be safe after this."

Shepard moved herself, to be directly in front of the Quarian's line, "I know. But we need to move now. Before backup gets here. I've got your six."

The Quarian nodded, "okay, let's go."They started walking down the alley. "What did you say your name was?" She asked after a few steps.

"Mara Shepard."

"I'm Tali'Zorah Nar Raaya," the girl said. "Um," she said after a moment, "Tali."

Shepard nodded. She had never seen a Quarian before either and despite herself she found herself staring. The sashes she wore were deep purple and richly patterned. It was kind of beautiful.

Shepard breathed a bit easier when they were out of the alleyways and back in the busier parts of the wards. She glanced in the direction of Doctor Michel's clinic. "Are you injured?"

"No," the Quarian said, "a little feverish from-..." she hesitated.

Shepard looked at her sympathetically. Pain was normal for her. She could ignore it or work through it. She could experience- she had learned- quite a bit of pain and still be able to work, even work well. But this girl had the same feel as Liara. She might be slightly more experienced, but they were both young and naive. They had no idea what the galaxy could hold. She vaguely remembered that feeling, but she had seen the darker side all too quickly and now she couldn't look anywhere without seeing cruelty.

"I know you were shot," she said, "we tracked you through Doctor Michel."

"I see," Tali said softly, "I'm fine. Just a little fever. It was worse a couple days ago."

"Okay. We'll go straight to the Ambassador's then. Commander Vakarian wants to talk to you."

"Is he...?" She trailed off, "you said he was...?"

Shepard glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, "Commander Vakarian owns me. I went after you on his orders. Otherwise you would have been on your own. He's the one you should thank."

She realized she was being brusque. With Tantius, that had been important. Professional and all business was the way to operate. Work the mission, do your job, be the best. In the Pits she had found herself having to turn whatever souls Argus threw at her into a working unit in life or death situations. She had tried to become a leader. Here, she had no idea what Vakarian expected and she was falling back into old habits. Well, the Normandy seemed casual in every other way. Might as well try being nice.

"I'm new," she said slowly, "but he doesn't seem like a bad egg."

"Good," Tali said. They stepped into the elevator and Shepard hit the button for the presidium. She heard Tali breathe an audible sigh of relief.

"You might not feel that way once we hit the Presidium," Shepard said wryly. "Bunch of fancy suits and skirts." She gave a mock shudder.

Tali let out a short laugh, "No place for a suit rat and... whatever they call you people."

"A damn nuisance mostly," Shepard said with a sly grin.

"Let's go take down their SpecTRe," Tali said, a smile in her voice. Shepard patted her arm gently as they stepped into the bright white of the Presidium.

When the Commander joined them a few minutes later Kaiden waved almost shyly to Shepard. He really was cute. Ashley had been right. A bit...nicer then she usually liked them. But cute.

Shepard nodded back and he joined her, Wrex trailing him.

"You get your man?" She asked the Krogan.

"Got' em."

"I can't believe the Commander didn't say something about it," Kaiden said.

Shepard shrugged, "You told him you were going to kill him, right?" She asked the Krogan.

"I told him."

"And then you killed him."

"Yeah."

"So?"

Wrex chuckled, "glad to see someone else gets it."

Kaiden sighed, "was the doctor okay?"

"She's fine," Shepard said, "a little shook up but... yeah, she's fine."

Hopefully the doctor had called someone to get the bodies cleaned up. She should have stuck around. What reason could she give for leaving. _The Doctor was too nice and I got scared?_

Pathetic.

Kaiden gave her a curious look but dropped the subject.

Orinia had been waiting for everyone rather impatiently, "what've we you got?" She asked immediately as the Commander walked in. She fixed Garrus with a fierce look, "or are fire-fights in the wards and an assault on Chora's Den going to be the new normal for you?"

Decima let out a quiet chortle, but Orinia fixed her with the next gaze, "and I would have thought your lieutenant had enough sense to keep things under more control."

Quickly, the female turian stilled her features to professionalism.

Tali was doing her best to slink back in line next to Shepard. Kaiden saw and gave her an encouraging smile, leaning forward. "The Commander's alright," he said softly, "it'll be fine."

Tali didn't succeed in escaping Orinia's notice. She fixed the quarian with a long look. "Alright Commander, what are you up to?"

"Word is," Garrus said, "she's got evidence that can bring down Saren."

Orinia made an expression that approximated a human smile, "We don't see many quarians here. What brings you away from the flotilla Miss...?"

Tali introduced herself quickly and explained, "I was on my pilgrimage. My rite of passage into adulthood."

"I see," Decima said, "tell us what you found."

The Quarian seemed to gain some confidence when she spoke next, "during my travels I began to hear reports of the Geth. Since they drove my people into exile, the Geth haven't been seen beyond the veil. I was curious."

Kaiden had taken a step back and was leaning against a ledge that looked out over the citadel. Wrex had already taken one of the benches. Shepard realized she was the only one standing formally, hands folded behind her back. She tried to relax her stance and took a step back, leaning on the perch as Kaiden.

"I tracked a geth patrol to an uncharted world, waited for one to become separated from its patrol. Then I disabled it and removed the memory core."

"Don't Geth fry their memory cores when they die," Garrus asked, "some kind of defense mechanism."

Tali nodded, "most of the core was wiped clean, but there were fragments left. I salvaged something from its audio banks."

She activated her Omni-tool and typed in a series of commands.

_Eden Prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the conduit._

"That's him," Shepard muttered.

The recording continued, this voice was different, feminine, "_and one step closer to the return of the Reapers."_

Shepard couldn't control her gasp. She felt, for a moment that she was back in the grasp of the beacon. That all the strings that held her together had been cut. The city was burning, the invaders were here. Her lungs were full of duracrete dust and smoke and she couldn't catch a full breath.

_Reapers_

_They are coming_

Kaiden had a hand under her arm and as her vision came back, Shepard realized that was the only thing holding her up. She straightened slowly, looking around at the faces that had turned towards her.

"So," Garrus said slowly, "seems like that did something."

Shepard swallowed hard.

"Commander," Kaiden said, "I think it would be good to get Shepard back to the ship."

Shepard blinked and hoisted herself back to her feet, "I'm fine." She said, brushing Kaiden's hand away. She nodded at him and he moved away. Orinia made a thoughtful noise and said, "we have more to consider, Commander. The other voice is Matriarch Benezia. I believe her daughter was on your ship when you arrived here."

"Doctor T'soni?" Decima asked. "Do you think she knows about her mother?"

"I think it's worth it to keep her close," said Garrus. "Either way, we can use her."

"So," Orinia asked after a moment, "we have a rogue human terrorist, a treacherous SpecTRe , and an asari Matriarch. You're playing with technology we don't understand from a civilization we know pitifully little about." She fixed Garrus with a glare Shepard wasn't sure how to interpret, but it made the turian commander put some steel in his spine. "Are you ready Commander?"

He nodded once, "I won't let you down."

Orinia snorted, "I don't think it's me you need to worry about," she gave Vakarian another long look. "I guess you're what we've got," she said finally, "let's go talk to the council."

It was hours of congratulations and hand shaking and "can you help me run this urgent galactic errand" later that Garrus made it back to the Normandy. He had sent the humans ahead of him long ago. Shepard was too well trained to admit she was tired, but her shoulders were drooping and she looked as if she were trying to hide the fact that she was in pain.

Tali had gone with them, and Wrex had offered his services before trudging after them. There was, apparently, a bounty out on Saren from the Shadow Broker.

He wasn't sure about the...Krogan element... but he wasn't in a position to say no, especially not after turians were under scrutiny for not playing nice with other species. Orinia had been quick to remind him to play nice and he owed her one too many favors. Putting a varied crew on his ship was an olive branch for Orinia. An olive branch she was owed for the amount of crap she had defended before the council over the last decade.

Plus she was terrifying when she gave him that look that she had already weighed, measured and found him drastically wanting.

But he was a SpecTRe now, which would hopefully appease her and give him good reason to keep her off his back. He and Decima got in the elevator and headed for the docking bay.

"Do you think Liara came back to the ship?"

"If she didn't," Garrus said, "then I guess we know where her loyalties lie."

The news that the Asari matriarch was working with Saren had been purposefully smothered, in part, to try to keep Liara from knowing. He wanted her to hear it from him for the first time if possible. Her reaction would be telling.

The yeoman was waiting for him as he walked in, a new crispness in his salute. Garrus guessed that, had he not ordered them to ready for immediate departure, most of his crew would be at the bar drinking and preening and bragging about being on crew with a SpecTRe. Turians knew how to preen.

"Everyone's on board, Doctor T'soni took her things to med-bay. The ...human female is there as well." He hesitated over how to talk about Shepard. Her presence wasn't normal on any Turian hierarchy vessel.

"Alenko is also on board. A Krogan arrived with your authorization markers. We sent him down to the cargo bay." Here the yeoman looked utterly baffled, "no one is sure what to do with the Quarian. She's down in medbay with the doctor right now."

"Good," Garrus said, "get me an update on supplies. We need enough on board for the Levos."

"Understood, you'll have an update within the hour."

Decima chuckled behind him and he turned to her, "got something to say Lieutenant?" he asked her.

Amusement shined in her eyes, "you can stop preening now, Garrus."

She strode off to the elevator heading to her quarters, most likely. He shook his head and headed for med-bay. He wanted to get this conversation with the Asari over with. She was young as hell and he didn't relish the idea of her being involved with Saren. Eden Prime had been too ugly.

Shepard was sitting on the edge of one of the beds when he walked in, the doctor was scanning her head. Across from her, Tali was sitting on the side of another bed. When he walked in Shepard was saying something to the Quarian who was laughing softly in amusement, but when he entered Shepard's features stilled into that blank look she tended to wear around him.

"Are they okay?"

"Fine," Salicus said, "Shepard here wanted her amplifier and implants checked out, and her...medication. Tali was shot a couple days ago and is running a fever. I asked her to come in for a physical."

"I'm fine doctor," the quarian protested, "it was much worse a few days ago. Polonium rounds," she said by way of explanation. Garrus nodded. "Those can be nasty," he agreed.

"Shepard, when you have a minute I'd like to talk to you," he said as he walked towards Liara's room.

"I'm going down to take a look at the Mako as soon as the Doc's done with me." She hesitated, "Kaiden forwarded me to manuals. I know a few things about vehicles."

"The Doc is done with you," Salicus said. He handed her the tiny white pills. Shepard gulped them down dry.

"Am I...?"

The doctor sighed, "you're brain patterns are still unusual, and your suit registered an unusual spike when you had your episode in the ambassadors office." He hesitated, "we won't know what that beacon did, until we have more information. For now, you're fine. No cranial trauma," he paused, "your implants are stable, but that's a nasty insertion scar around your amp port."

Shepard reached behind her neck and felt it gingerly, "Nothing shorted out?"

"What's going on?" Garrus asked.

The Doctor scowled and held up the small black amplifier. "Your amp is fried, it was almost causing a burn on the surrounding skin when I took it out. It's probably off the black market. Held up for a long time, but she'll be better off with something less...cheap and dirty."

Garrus scowled and nodded. He hadn't liked dealing with Argus, but the more he saw the way he had treated Shepard, the angrier he was.

Shepard nodded and glanced at him. He couldn't read her expression, she looked almost nervous.

"Good to know," Garrus said, "We'll get one requisitioned. I'll meet you down by the Mako in a bit."

For a moment he thought she was going to do that unusual salute of hers, but she checked herself before she walked through the doors.

Tali glanced between the two turians, "I'm going to go find someplace for my things." She followed Shepard out.

Salicus glanced down at Shepard's chart.

"Normally, I'd recommend a psych evaluation. A long one," the doctor said.

"But?"

The doctor hesitated, "what good would it do? You need her fit for duty. If she weren't... what would even happen to her? This is better."

Garrus patted him on the shoulder, "you like her."

Salicus mandible flicked, "she's tough even for a human. It's hard not to like her. " He looked sternly at Garrus, "Take care of her. You've got a long way to go to earn her trust."

Garrus nodded, "she's been through a lot."

"She's been _put __through _a lot."

"I know doc, I'll keep an eye on it."

Salicus shook his head, and changed the subject, "If you're looking for Doctor T'soni, she's setting up her research equipment back there. He gestured towards the storage room.

"Thanks Doc."

Liara was unpacking a computer terminal when he walked in. She stood quickly, rubbing her hands together nervously, "Commander. I hear congratulations are in order."

"Thank you," he glanced around. The table was scattered with datapads and a few artifacts he didn't doubt were Prothean, or else a very convincing replica. "You've made yourself at home," he commented.

"Yes," she said, "I hope you don't mind. I've been researching Mara's condition. I have some ideas."

Garrus nodded, pulled up one of the two chairs, "we can talk about it in a minute. For now, there's something else. Sit down."

The Asari looked distinctly nervous. She sat in the opposite chair and swiveled to face him, "What did you want to talk about?"

"We think that Eden Prime may have been about more than the beacon."

"What other motive could they possibly have?" Liara was wringing her hand in her lap. Otherwise, she appeared confused. She didn't look like a liar. Garrus was willing to bet money she was going to be as surprised by the news as he had been

"We think you were being targeted."

"I'm just a researcher. I look at old artifacts and ruins and study the people who lived there." She was genuine. Garrus was nearly sure.

"We think they may have hoped you could help them find the beacon and something else," he said, "something called the Conduit."

"The Conduit?" She asked, "I don't know what it is. I've never even heard of it."

Garrus held up a calming hand, "I believe you. We're still looking into it, but you should know, the attack on Eden Prime had three conspirators behind it."

"They released the names of two," she said, "Saren, obviously and a human named Nielson. I can't say that I know him but-"

"There's a third. Matriarch Benezia."

Liara's face dropped, "My mother. Goddess." She rubbed her forehead, "Commander I am nothing my mother. We haven't spoken in years."

His gut told him she was telling the truth.

"Doctor T'soni," he said, "if there's anything you know about your mother's whereabouts, I need to know. We need to find her and put a stop to whatever's going on."

"If I think of anything Commander, I'll let you know." She took a deep breath, "I need to think about all of this. I can't believe Benezia...I haven't spoken to my mother in many years and this was nothing like her. Something changed."

She took a long breath, "let's talk about something else, for now. Shepard. I've consulted with some texts. There's nothing like what happened to her in recorded history." Her voice grew excited, "studying her is a new frontier in prothean research."

Garrus chuckled. Another prime reason to keep Liara T'soni on board. They needed her expertise to figure out what was going on with Shepard. If she had anymore episodes, then having a Prothean expert definitely couldn't hurt.

He told her what had happened in the Orinia's office.

"Reapers," Liara said, "I don't know..." She stood, "we need to talk to Shepard. I need more details about what happened."

Shepard was where she said she would be. She sat on the ground, back against one of the Mako's wheels, paging through schematics on her Omni-tool. She was chomping steadily away on a protein bar. No longer in armor she wore simple black pants with a black tunic that buttoned down the front. It opened just below her collarbones. She and Kaiden must have had time to get her appropriate clothing. It reflected badly on him if they had nothing to wear for everyday use and humans were less likely to be comfortable in armor all day than turians.

She looked small in the shadow of the vehicle. Since he had met her she had projected an air of being larger than she was, in stature and in personality.

As they approached she started to get to her feet. Garrus made a hand motion for her to relax, but she clambered to her feet anyways.

"Commander," she said, "I have some ideas that could improve her," she gestured to the Mako.

"Why do humans always call machines 'she,'" he asked, a turian equivalent of a smile on his face.

Shepard looked at the machine surprise, "It- It just is. It's what my...dad used to call them." She glanced passed him at Liara, a shadow crossing her face, "what can I do to help you both?" She licked her lips nervously.

"Shepard," Liara began, "we're here about what happened in Ambassador Orinia's office earlier."

"Doc checked me out," Shepard said evenly, "I'm fine. Really I am. But I do have a theory about your Protheans."

"I've heard quite a few theories. The problem is finding evidence to support them. The Protheans left remarkably little behind."Liara said.

"I've been thinking about what I saw," Shepard said, "The Beacon. I think the Protheans got wiped out. I think they were invaded by something. Something called the Reapers."

Liara looked stunned, "I don't- I hadn't considered that." She tilted her head, "there's so little evidence that it;s like someone came along when they were gone and cleansed the galaxy of clues. But my research has shown that this isn't the first time this has happened. The cycle began before them."

Shepard was looking at her both eyebrows raised, "maybe that's what happened then. Maybe this has happened to more than just the protheans."

Liara was excited now, pacing, "I've spent fifty years tracking down every shred of evidence. Subtle patterns have emerged and those hint at the truth. We think the beacon may have told you more."

Shepard looked at Liara and then Garrus felt her gaze on him, "so that's why you're here now. This is the part where I'm the lab rat."

"Shepard," Liara said quietly, urgently, "I let my scientific curiosity get the better of me earlier. I want to help. I won't do anything without your consent."

"All due respect doctor," Shepard said, "I don't think you know how this works."

She looked at him then, chin up, eyes flashing. She was afraid he realized. He had seen fear in the eyes of humans time and again during the war. She was afraid of him and what was going to happen on his orders. For the first time since he had met her, she met his eyes directly. Quickly she looked away. She reached up to touch her neck then, hesitated and clenched her fist at her side instead.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Liara seems to think," he said quietly, "she may be able to help you interpret what you saw."

Shepard glanced between them warily, "How's that?"

Liara resumed her pacing, "Prothean beacons were created to transmit data directly into the minds of a user. If this one was brokers any information you received must be confused, scrambled. The fact that you were able to make sense of any of it is incredible." She stopped and looked at Shepard, "You must be remarkably strong willed."

Shepard grunted, "so I've heard. But, I don't see how this is finding us find Saren, or the conduit."

Liara took a step backwards, "of course you're right. I don't know anything about Saren's whereabouts or the conduit. But there is something I can do."

Shepard said nothing, but folded her arms in front of herself.

"I can join my consciousness to yours," Liara said carefully, "together we can try to make sense of what you saw. Who knows what was in there."

Shepard pressed her lips together, "you want to get inside my head." It was a flat statement. No emotion. She looked at Garrus, "is this what you want?" She hesitated, "are you ordering me?" Her folded arms now seemed to be wrapped around herself protectively.

Liara's cheeks were turning a deeper shade of blue. "It's not exactly like-" she put a hand to her forehead, "it would make an interesting study-" she stopped. "That's not what I meant." Shepard turned her gaze to Liara now, the same flat expression. "I only meant you would make a good specimen." Shepard raised an eyebrow.

Liara took another few steps back under the withering look. "We could all," she said softly, "forget this conversation ever happened."

Shepard was shaking as she brushed past the asari towards him. "Commander," she said almost calmly but for a slight tremor in her voice, "what are you going to do with me?"

He looked at her in surprise, "What do you mean?" She was close to him now. He could see a scar that ran down the inside of her eyebrow. The flecks of darker brown in her gold colored eyes. The slightly bruised skin around her nose and eye from her fight on Eden Prime.

She was frightened of him, at just she sound of his voice she winced ever so slightly, as if she was anticipating a hit. Still, she carried on, "If I said no, what would you do? Beat me? Rape me?"

"Hey," he said, his sub vocals rising a little with his surprise, "I won't hurt you Shepard. No one here wants to hurt you."

She stepped back, "but you will if you have to." It wasn't a statement, it wasn't even said to him. She muttered it as if he had just confirmed what she already knew with his words.

"That's not how this works Shepard. That's not how I work."

She bit her lip and he saw she was shaking. He wondered if it was anger or fear or both.

"Shepard," Liara said calmly. This time he wasn't imagining her flinch. She put her back against the Mako glancing between them. "I'm not here to hurt you."

Shepard looked pitiful. A warrior stranded alone for too long behind enemy lines and so used to fighting she didn't know how to stop. She didn't even know her friends from her enemy. During the war he had a friend detained by the humans. When they had gotten him back it had taken him weeks, even months before he was really home. She had been gone longer and he was beginning to understand that she had been through more.

'What happens to me once you get it all?" Shepard asked suddenly.

"What?" He asked.

She looked back at him, though he saw her still tracking Liara out of the corner of her eye.

"If I let her, and you find out whatever the beacon gave me, are you going to send me back to The Pit? They want you to kill me. Saren wasn't the only one to suggest it, was he?"

Garrus motioned for Liara to stay put. He took a slow step forward, both hands held up. "Mara," He said softly, "I know my people haven't given you much reason to trust us. I know you're scared. I need you to trust me. I'm different."

He took another step. She didn't move.

"I won't hurt you and I'm not going to send you anywhere. As far as I'm concerned, you're one of mine now. We need you on your game. Doctor T'soni might be able to help you. I can't have you passing out on a mission because someone said the wrong word. We don't even know what those words are. Let someone help you. I'm not ordering. I'm asking."

Shepard rubbed a hand over her face, brushing strands of black hair away. "It's all I have left," Shepard said, "my head, what's inside me...It's all I have left. That's it."

He shut his eyes a moment, that was critical factor he hadn't even thought of. Stupid. How could he have been so stupid? He rallied, meeting her gaze. "Then let's help you take it back."

She looked at him and swallowed hard. She said something so quietly that Garrus could barely pick it up on his translator. It sounded something like,"...going to regret this." For a moment he thought she would acquiesce, but she surprised him.

"Order me," she said, "or I won't."

Liara shook her head, "I don't think this-"

He held up a hand, silencing her. Shepard moved sideways quickly, ready to dodge a hit.

"Shepard," he said quietly, "just relax. I won't order you, and I won't hurt you."

She relaxed a fraction, still watching him carefully. For a moment he saw her as she was. Ripped from her family by the war, beaten, neglected, and abused. When had any of his people showed her any kind of kindness? What kind of life had she known?

He stepped back. She was watching him, face twisted in confusion. "Liara, let's let her work."

Without waiting, he turned and headed for the elevator. He'd come back later, once the situation had diffused. Apparently, he had some work to do if he was going to gain her trust.

* * *

_A/N: _

_To avoid a long in story explanation in this section, I have put off an in-depth explanation of how I have head-cannoned amps and implants. Suffice it to say for now I consider those two separate elements. Implants, which are difficult or impossible to change out and an amp which would plug into a port created when the implant was inserted. Amps can be changed out by anyone, Mara went to the doctor because she was worried about a short in her amp causing damage to her implant. _


	9. Cages

Shepard looked into the Turian's eyes. All these years and she still found them unnerving and strange. They were beady and bright blue. He looked at her mandibles pulled in tight. She was breathing heavily, almost hyperventilating.

Liara reached for her shoulder, but Shepard flinched so hard she pulled her hand back as if she had been burned.

"Shepard," Garrus said quietly, "relax. I won't order you. And I won't hurt you."

She took a step back. He looked at her another long moment, expression unreadable, then his attention went to Liara. The young Asari was close to tears. Shepard took another step back, glancing between them. She waited for the consequence to come down. He said he wasn't going to hurt her, but maybe he was just waiting for her to let her guard down.

"Liara," Garrus said, "let's let her work."There was a rumble in his sub-vocals she recognized.

He turned to go, and for one wild moment Shepard wondered what would happen if she picked up a wrench and went for him while his back was turned. The tool box was right there.

_They execute you, that's what happens._

Instead, she stood stock still watching them go, and then she left the cargo bay

Having come of age onboard merc ships it didn't take long for Mara to figure out where the ventilation rooms were. They were, in general, empty and easy to hide inside. She had spent hours curled inside them when she had been taken. She had been terrified. The first few months she'd barely said a word to a single one of her captors. Her combat training had been difficult and after it was over she'd find her way to the mess decks, steal some food and then hide away sandwiching herself into as small a place as possible to eat.

She did the same now, squeezing herself in between the ducts, pulling her knees all the way to her chin. What the hell had just happened?

She had been certain Vakarian would insist. She had been prepared to take a hit when she hesitated and then a beating for her insolence. She had expected the Commander to be furious. She hadn't expected him to let out that deep hum of sorrow and walk away. As far as Liara went, had let herself be taken in by the big blue eyes and the naive act, but if she could ask her to... No, she had been wrong to think she could trust the Asari.

Back then, she had perfected a technique of hiding deep within herself. She had carved herself out a safe space where it was always summer and she was a child laying under a tree. Her belly was full and her mother was humming and stroking her hair. In the distance, she could hear her father and brother playing. She could go there at will. She could trace out the steps of the pre-fab they had lived in. She could walk the streets she still remembered, and see the neighbors she had long since left behind.

The idea of her last haven being invaded- desecrated by a virtual stranger... she couldn't bear it. She had dealt with the beacon, made a space to compartmentalize the horror she had seen. She had locked it behind a door and however it might pound to be let out, she forced it to stay. She could hold like this for a long time, maybe indefinitely. She didn't need help.

Mara let herself squeeze out a few tears of self-pity where no one could see her before she pressed her palms to her eyes and forced herself to calm down. Nothing had happened. No one had touched her. So why was she so upset?

"Okay," she said softly to herself, "okay."

After a few breaths she squeezed out of the space and clambered to her feet. She made her careful way back to the room she and Kaiden shared. She didn't want to run into any strangers in the halls. He wasn't there, so she took her time changing into sleeping clothes, examining the injuries she had received on Eden Prime.

Her face was nearly healed, with nothing but a blue bruise across the bridge of her nose to show it had been busted. The swelling on her eye was nearly gone too.

She was still mottled with bruises across her ribs. A few of them finger and hand shaped from the husks. She shuddered. She hated those things. Human shaped but not human. Shepard wondered if there was something left alive inside of them, but dismissed the notion. There was no spark of sentience in those cold blue eyes.

Her ribs were still sore from where she had taken hits in the Pits, but Salicus had been using some treatment on them that was mending them quicker then she had thought possible.

She liked the doctor. If there was one truly good thing on this ship it was the doctor. His stern demeanor had been melting around her into something more paternal. In the Pit, the doctors had been rough, practically manhandling her trying to slap enough medigel on her to get her ready for another fight. Tantius had overseen the medical care of Dometia personally. None of the doctors spoke to her, they spoke to him and whatever he decided was done without question.

He had gentle hands and occasionally he'd ask if he was hurting her, his sub-vocals rumbling with genuine concern. Normally she hated anyone, even a doctor, so much as looking at the implant site and amp port. It was vulnerable spot on any biotic. A less than careful touch was painful, a jab at the wrong spot could be outright debilitating. On the rare occasions she hadn't had an amp in, she always kept a silicon plug in the port to avoid any painful accidents.

"How often does your amp blow like this?" He had asked. He placed a hand on the base of her neck. A few inches below the amp port and she had tensed. He had paused a moment, letting her adjust before he moved his hand towards the port.

"Only with the stupid black market amps or when I overdraw and then try to use my biotics too quickly afterwards." She had said. He touched the skin around her port where her biology met technology.

Salicus sighed, "you shouldn't have used them today. Let me see." He moved her hair out of the way and touched her incision scar. "What a hack job. Careless." He clicked in disgust. He didn't speak to her again, but when he accidentally touched a tender patch of skin and she had let out a hiss of pain, he had moved his hand quickly and rumbled soothingly.

Eventually the tension had gone out of her shoulders as he had checked the contacts and declared her well. "Twenty four hours, no biotics. You'll need a new amp. Try to get some sleep and make sure you're eating." Shepard had nodded, but headed for the kitchen instead.

She looked down at her ribs again. So she just had bruises, then. Mostly just bruises and a fizzled amp. Nothing that worried her. She could deal with that. She put on sweats and settled onto the bed, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders and curling into a ball. She hadn't really slept in a while. Being knocked unconscious barely counted, and she had only had time for a quick cat nap before they had hit the citadel.

She was asleep nearly instantly.

* * *

Garrus picked up a data pad, read a few words and tossed it back to the desk. It was late, but the lights in his stateroom were still on and he was browsing through dozens of datapads trying to add up where it had all gone wrong. There had been a million papers written about his tactics on Earth. He had paged through a few, but none of them seemed to capture what had actually happened.

Garrus reached for Shepard's files and started to page through it again. It was sadly thin for everything she had experienced. He looked at her medical scans and through the file back down onto the desk. The abuse was obvious even to his eye, untrained in human anatomy.

For a moment he wondered what would have happened if the situation was reversed. What if it were his sister, Solana, not Shepard...

He shook his head. He knew- he'd bring down destruction on anyone who might have even considered hurting her.

He kept replaying the moment Shepard's face had been a few feet from his.

Her eyes had shown with a light he hadn't realized she possessed. She had seemed so... broken. Until then, he had only seen her cool and professional. Seeing her like that- there was fury under there. Even with the smell of fear rolling off of her, she was angry. She was a predator in a cage, but it didn't make her any less dangerous. For minute, just one, he had hesitated to turn his back on her.

Garrus couldn't shake what she had asked him,

"_What would you do if I said no? Beat me? Rape me?"_

Was that how her life had worked, before now? The thought made his heart clench in rage. He let out a groan of shame.

He had been young during the war. Too young for the responsibilities he had been given. He had kept winning battles, and when you won, you got promoted. even he hadn't realized a strong leader with a strategic mind, didn't mean he was at all suited to win this war.

There was a chime from the door jerking him from his reflections, "Come in."

"Hey boss,"Kaiden walked through the door. "Doctor mentioned Shepard needed a new amp. I requisitioned a couple I thought would work well for her and put them in her weapons locker."

"Good," Garrus hesitated, "something else?" he asked as the man hesitated in the door.

"I was wondering if you had a minute."

"Sit down." He felt his mandibles pulled in tight, wondering if he'd need to explain the scene in the cargo bay. It hadn't been supposed to go that way. "What's on your mind."

"Off the record," Kaiden said slowly, "something's wrong here. This Saren is looking for records on some sort of galactic extinction, but we can't get back up from the Council?" Kaiden made a face, "Maybe this is out of line but there's writing on the wall here, but someone isn't reading it."

"I agree," Garrus said, "they don't want to believe anything's wrong."

"Seems like a group that's been around as long as the Council should see this coming." Kaiden shook his head. "You know, it's funny. Humans dreamed about space for hundreds of years and we get out here, and none of you residents are impressed by the view. Or the dangers."

"Us residents, huh?" He drawled.

Kaiden blushed.

He had known Kaiden since he was fresh out of BAaT. He hadn't intended on taking on a biotic human, but there had been something about the young man. Even with his history- what had happened to that instructor- he had seen his potential. His instincts had been right. The angry young man had grown into a stable biotic, an asset to any team. He knew the relationship was lopsided, but he hadn't had many friends who had been around longer than a few days or weeks. He counted Kaiden among his friends, in a way.

"Kaiden," he said slowly, "the first time you saw me, what did you think?"

The man looked at him a long moment, "I heard about all that in the cargo bay." He said finally.

"I probably could have handled that better," Garrus admitted.

"You can't blame her for being scared," Kaiden said, "just think about where we found her." He let out a thoughtful hum, "I'll never get used to it. Seeing things like that."

"the Geth? Or the Husks?"

"The humans, actually. The Pits. They couldn't even give them decent armor. Shepard's lucky she didn't end up like those other two humans that were with her." he heaved a sigh, "I shouldn't say this, Commander, but the whole thing... it's not right. I know it's illegal, what they were doing there, but it - the hierarchy just seems to allow this to happen with no repercussions."

Garrus looked at him, meeting his eyes, "you're right. They don't want to deal with the consequences of stepping in."

The young man nodded to himself, "How did we get here Commander? I mean... everything was pretty tame from my perspective. It was after NewYork. Some of your people just showed up one day, and that was that."

"Didn't watch the news much, Alenko?" Garrus asked, a note of surprise in his voice.

"Dad was really sick. Mom moved us out to the country to give him some peace before... well. She didn't let either of us watch the news much." Kaiden laughed, "I'm pretty sure he would have jumped out of his death bed to re-enlist and fight your people.

"He sounds like he would have made a good turian."

"That's uh...no offense Commander," Kaiden said slowly, "but I think he'd rather have died."

Garrus glanced away, "I only meant, he sounds like a good man."

"Thanks. He was."

"I made an... error in judgement in New York."

Kaiden looked at him steadily, without saying anything. Garrus wasn't sure how well the man read turian facial expressions. His mandibles were pulled in so tightly it hurt. He had fought beside this man, bled beside him. He didn't know how Kaiden viewed him, but he hoped that it was something more than just...obligation. He would have thought... well... he hadn't ever prevented Kaiden from making a run for it. If he really wanted to, he was sure Kaiden could have disappeared by now.

"New York was... Everything we had won by then we had won by taking your people by surprise. We'd camp out for few days, pick a target and show up someplace we weren't expected. Strike as hard and as fast as we could, and then clean up."

"Clean up?"

"We sequestered the military and civilians. Everyone stayed relatively unharmed. We'd use them to clean up the city, make sure everyone was fed... that sort of thing. We couldn't let them run. We tried giving the civilians warnings at first. So they could flee." Garrus heaved a sigh, "we found a city they had left abandoned. The whole thing was rigged with explosions. We didn't realize until we were trapped in the middle. I lost dozens of men."

Kaiden nodded, "I can believe that. But New York didn't go that way. It was months."

"No," Garrus said, "No it didn't. It was our last real hold out. We knew if we won that, we'd win the whole war. We had forces working in towards the city for weeks, but every time we took a block or two, it was practically rigged to blow up. Most of our time was defusing the ground we won."

"And we both know the Hierarchy loves the slow and steady approach."

"There was that," Garrus said. He couldn't deny, that had been a factor. He was a young Commander. He hadn't know how to handle the pressure back then. Now, in the same situation, he'd tell the council to go screw themselves. Back then, he had been paralyzed with fear at disappointing them, at giving the wrong orders. As if the Relay 314 war made giving good orders possible. By the time Turians had made it to earth, the situation was already too far for anyone to see reason.

"We were under pressure," he acknowledged, "I was under pressure." He gestured vaguely, "the conditions inside the city were a concern too."

"What do you mean?" Kaiden's head was tilted in curiosity.

"There were too many people crammed into too small of a space. There was some kind of plague. You could smell the burning bodies from miles away." He made a face of disgust. He could still smell it when he thought of those last few months. "Some human civilians had formed a militia and tried to maintain orders, but they ended up being closer to gang. There wasn't enough food, we had cut the supply lines and shut down their power grid. People were dying in there while we fought skirmishes."

Pressure without and pressure within. The last gasp of human spirit had all been packed into that city and Garrus had been in charge of smothering it with a pillow.

"So where do the gangs come in? How was that more humane?" Kaiden asked.

"We'd already decided to take humans into the Turian empire before we invaded earth. We tried to do it peacefully and then your people bombed the hell out of one of our colonies. That all happened before we ever touched down."

"I remember hearing about that one," Kaiden said slowly, "Farin II right?"

"Right. Almost a hundred thousand of ours dead. No survivors. The Asari didn't like it, but my people were out for blood. We sold it as adopting your people into the meritocracy." Garrus glanced away again, he didn't like admitting his part in the disaster, "We couldn't progress into the city any farther. There were too many bombs. When the Blue Suns showed up, they were waving around numbers that didn't seem... so big. I couldn't have known."

Kaiden again said nothing, but Garrus felt the accusation in his eyes. "I should have known," he said finally. "We sent them through the sewers. It was the fastest route. The Civilian militia couldn't back up alliance forces, because they were too busy fighting the Mercs. By the time me and my squads made it through the last of the alliance forces and about a dozen streets full of mines, they had been in the city for hours."

They had killed anyone in their way. They had killed anyone they didn't want to take. Anyone too old, anyone too young, anyone wounded. They could hear the screams as they worked their way into the city. He had been desperate to put a stop to it, but if they rushed, his squad would be blown to bits. By the time he knew he had made a terrible mistake there was no stopping it. When they entered the city... he had seen a lot of bad things in his life. New York blew it all away.

"It was a massacre," Kaiden said softly.

"Yeah."

"And she was there somewhere."

"Yeah. She must have been."

"Jesus."

Kaiden was giving him that same we calculating look he had seen in Shepard's eyes. There was a something in that look, he was starting to realize. These humans were turning on him. Lines were being drawn in front of him, on his own ship. He had a feeling if it came down to it, Kaiden would side with Shepard, not with him.

Garrus couldn't blame him.

"I've got a lot to make up for," he said quietly.

Kaiden just shook his head and stood, "You'll be fighting an uphill battle, Commander."He stood, "I've got some work to get done. If you don't mind."

Garrus nodded, "We hit Noveria in a day or two. Make sure you get some rest."

Kaiden stood at attention a moment, and then strode towards the door. He stopped just before it swung open, "May I speak freely?"

"Go on."

"She doesn't see any of you turians as people, sir."

"What?"

He turned, "she doesn't even trust me. Not really. She definitely doesn't trust you. Show her you care. Give her the space to make some decisions. Any decision works. Talk to her. She might come around a bit."He shrugged, made a sound as if he wasn't sure he should say more. "but, you know, if she hates you, sounds like that's her right too," he said finally.

He walked out the door, leaving Garrus alone with his files and data and no idea what to do next.

* * *

Shepard jerked awake to a darkened room, stifling a yelp of fear.

The Beacon was haunting her dream and ruining her sleep. There had been _something _following her. She could practically smell the city burning around her, hear the screams. And through it all was the certainty that, whatever had them was coming for her.

She clapped a hand over her mouth, stifling her cries. Her breathing slowed down slowly. The room was dark, but the shape of the lockers and racks reminded her where she was. She wasn't in The Pits. She calmed herself with that thought. Her breathing slowed, but her adrenaline was pumping now. She realized she was sweating with fear from the nightmare.

Kaiden was breathing steadily in the rack next to hers. He must have come in while she was asleep. In the Pits she had hated having even a tiny cell to herself. She had grown up bunking with a ton of kids- male and female. The had all crowded together, sprawled across racks, sometimes curled up together. She found Kaiden's presence, his even breathing oddly reassuring.

She tapped her fingers on her thigh trying to banish the restless energy filling her. She wanted to go back to sleep, but that seemed unlikely. Finally, she rose, put on boots, and walked slowly out onto the decks. It must be late- there was barely anyone walking around, just a skeleton crew.

Shepard stopped by the Mako, looking up at it. She liked machines like this. It reminded her of her father. He had worked on machines like this one, repairing them for the war effort. When the Civilian militia had taken over governance of the city they would knock late at night or early in the morning and he would wake her and John and take them to the garage with him. John would fall asleep on a cot and her father would take one look at her wide awake eyes and hand her a flashlight. Together they'd work in the grey morning light, Mara holding a flashlight to fetching a tool while her father carefully narrated what he was doing.

They were some of her best memories after her mother had been killed. Later she had cut her mechanical teeth working for Tantius in her spare time on mechs and drop ships.

She pulled the schematics up and clambered to the top of the Mako to examine the gun. It was new, but the algorithm used for firing was outdated. Standard issue. No bells or whistles. She might be able to recalibrate. The shield efficiency was low too. She could think of a few ways to boost it.

She started to unscrew one of the panels, looking for the control mechanism inside.

"Can't sleep?"

Shepard peered over the side. Wrex was sitting by the toolbox, looking up at her. She went back to work, "something like that."

He grunted, "looked like a big commotion with that Turian earlier."

Shepard grunted. "You could say that." She started in on the second screw.

"I think you should eat him."

Shepard stopped, leaned over the side again, "huh?"

The Krogan looked at her steadily, "single combat, you would win."

Shepard half grinned, "That's not really how this works."

"Sure but it's true." he paused, glanced at her confused expression. "You've already thought about how."

Shepard climbed down the side of the Mako, to dig through a toolbox, "Turians you go for the heel spurs, mandible and crest. If you have something sharp to get under the cowl, that'll work too."

"See? And I bet you have experience."

Shepard stifled a grin, then lowered her voice conspiratorially, "Snapped a heel spur one time. He grabbed me and I stomped down. Felt like breaking a real thick branch."

Wrex chuckled, "I figured you were a tough one."

Shepard just crossed her arms and leaned against the Mako tilting her head slightly. She liked the Krogan she wasn't about to admit she had been nine or ten and snapping off the heel spur had been a lucky shot. Or that the turian in question had made her pay well enough later on.

"What about you?" Shepard said, "got any good stories?"

"Well," Wrex said slowly, "there was this one time the turians almost wiped out our entire race. That was fun."

Shepard huffed out a breath, "heard something about that. They're doing the same thing to us. War killed my whole family and then I was literally abducted by aliens."

"Heard something about that war."

He was big. Shepard wondered if all Krogan were that big. He had a nasty scar running from above his eye to neck and his voice sounded like he had a mouth full of gravel.

She had never been particularly tall- probably some nutritional deficit from growing up in a war zone- but she had rarely felt short. This Krogan made her feel small. Straightening would only emphasize her feelings so she relaxed a bit more. A clear message- _you don't intimidate me- _without being a challenge. She didn't feel any particular urge to take on a Krogan aboard a ship. Might be a fun fight now that she thought of it, though.

Wrex grunted, "it's not the same you know? What their doing to your people."

"Yeah?" Shepard left out a short disbelieving laugh, "How's that? It seems pretty much the same to me."

"My people were infected with a genetic disease that makes only one out of every few thousand survives. What I saw last night," he shook his head, "a scared pit-varren on a leash."

Shepard bristled, "You have no idea what my life has been like."

The Krogan stood up, took a decisive step towards her. Shepard maintained her lean against the vehicle, tilting her head up to see his face better. He glowered at her.

"I know what I saw human."

Shepard straightened and stepped forward. She made every movement deliberate until she was meeting the Krogans eyes, "The human has a name," she said firmly, "It's Shepard."

For a moment the two were staring at each other. Then a slow wolfish grin spread over Wrex's face. "See? That's the attitude I'm talking about." He relaxed, "just think about it Shepard. What's really keeping you here? You came to find me on the citadel, you could just as easily have disappeared. It's a big place." The Krogan turned to leave, "I think if you really wanted to go, you'd already be gone."


	10. Covert Ops

Kaiden hadn't seen much of Shepard over the trip to Noveria. At least not awake. She spent the few days of travel curled into a ball, one arm over her head as if she expected to be kicked awake. Occaisionally she twitched and whimpered in the throes of some nightmare. Kaiden would watch, wondering if he should wake her, eventually though, he decided to let her be.

Shepard was nothing but muscle and bone and her collarbones and shoulders stuck out at angles. She shivered in her sleep sometimes, until Kaiden dropped an extra blanket on her bed while she was gone. Space was generally cold for newcomers, and though Mara had spent a long time on ships, she hadn't been there for a couple years. And she didn't have any fat to keep her warm.

Occaisionally Shepard woke up long enough to wolf down a meal andwalk to medical, or trudge to the Mako to do some work. She spoke to no one outside of a few grunts.

Kaiden wasn't particularly worried about it. She had had it rough for a long time. She needed recovery time, and if this trip gave her a chance to get some sleep... well... it seemed a good sign that she seemed not to mind his presence at all.

At a guess, between her time in The Pits, the events on the Citadel, her confrontation with Garrus- any one of the things she had been through- combined with her physical injuries had pushed the woman to her limits. Sleeping was a sign of healing. If she was sleeping, she was probably was a first small step on what appeared to be a long road.

It was surprising then, when just before they landed on Noveria he found her in the small shipboard gym of the cargo bay. She was on the pull up bar, a thin sheen of sweat on her face. Her hair was tied back. Already the sharper angles on her face were softening with enough food. The dark circles under her eyes were fading, though she still had the ever present line between her eyebrows.

She looked strong as she worked through her reps. The muscles of her arms stood out, and her back beneath her tank rippled. Kaiden glanced away, almost sheepish. It occurred to him he might be developing a bit of a crush. He had always enjoyed the adventurous type. This was probably a bad time though, for her especially.

Shepard nodded at him when she saw him enter and few seconds later dropped to the ground.

"Surprised to see you up and about," he said.

He traded off with her, jumping to get a grip on the bar.

"Doc cleared me for duty," she paused, "I wanted to clear my head before we hit the surface." She walked to the treadmill and punched in a warm-up routine. For a long time they were both quiet, focusing on the workout.

When she hopped off the treadmill Kaiden started a cool down stretch beside her. "You ready for to be ground side again?" He asked. He realized belatedly, she might see this as a questioning of her capabilities.

She shot him a look with a touch of disdain, confirming his suspicions, "I'm fine." She hesitated, obviously reaching for some civility. "I don't like being left behind."

He smiled at her, ignoring the roughness. The last thing she needed was someone critiquing her manners,"I always like touching down on a new planet too. Seeing what all is out there. You know?"

She released a stretch and looked at him, a smile touching her lips, surprising him. He tried to shut down the mental image of a rose blooming from concrete. "Well, well- look who's a romantic. Read that in a book somewhere?"

"When I was growing up read books like that, sure. Where a hero goes to space to prove himself worthy of the woman he loves," he caught himself, "or you know... justice."

She didn't smile, but the corners of her eyes crinkled. "Women and justice," she repeated, "far cry from this, though." She sat back gesturing at the cargo bay. Her face darkening.

He studied her features. The scars he could marred the smooth copper skin of her shoulders in white and pink scar tissue. Any stories she had would probably not include justice or romance. He tried not to let his thoughts show on his face. In her place he would have despised pity.

"Maybe I was a romantic in the beginning," he said carefully, "but I thought about it after Brain Camp – ah, sorry," he caught himself, "'Biotic Acclimation and Temperance training." I'm not looking for 'the dream,' but their are worse places to be. Not a whole lot out there in the hierarchy for people like us. Biotics, I mean."

"Sure," she said, "can't deny that." She paused thoughtfully, "can't say I'm familiar with um... Brain Camp? What was it like?"

Shepard wasn't chasing him off, he realized. She had an awkward expression on her face, as if she wasn't quite sure how to talk to him. She kept her eyes focused on the stretches, not looking at him.

"'Biotic Acclimation and Temperance' didn't last past the airlock," he said. "To the kids they hauled in, it was 'Brain Camp.'" He grunted, "you know Turians and Biotics. Uneasy allies at best. They were trying to find a way to create human Cabals. I don't think they expected to find the results of all those 'accidental' exposures to element zero when they invaded."

"I heard some of them weren't quite as 'accidental' as they seemed," Shepard shrugged, "I didn't manifest any ability until after my parents died. Never had the chance to ask"

"My mother was downwind of a transport crash. It was before there were human biotics. A little after the discovery of the Martian ruins," he explained. "It only gets iffy around '63 when Conatix was running out of first-gen subjects. Until then, they'd relied on accidentals." He paused, "They lost track of people during the war, but after- you know- a bunch of Turians show up and next thing you know you're out at Jump Zero."

Shepard sat back on her mat, back to a crate, "yeah, it's rough. I remember when they first... picked me up. We were all so scared. We'd sleep two or three to a bunk like puppies or something." She nodded, "it was good, at least, we weren't alone."

"Yeah," he agreed, "we had a little circle every night, before lights out. There wasn't time to do much though, it was a research platform. And training," he heaved a sigh, "Lots of training." He could count on one hand the days he hadn't gotten at least one nosebleed from the amount of biotics he'd been using.

He had Shepard's attention now. She was watching him curiously, her green eyes studying him carefully. "So you got to know each other?"

He felt his cheeks grow hot as she appraised him as if she had figured him out. He had been an awkward teenager, there definitely hadn't been any...of that sort of thing. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "We'd play cards, network games that sort of thing." She raised an eyebrow. He wondered what she was thinking. "There was this girl Rahna. She was from a rich family. She was smart, and charming as hell. Beautiful, but not stuck up about it." He flushed, and glanced away, "kind of reminds me of you."

When he glanced back, Shepard was looking at him with naked astonishment. It was true though. Shepard carried marks from a difficult life, but in a fight she was poetry in motion. Despite everything, she carried herself with a dignity that surprised him. Nothing seemed to shake her. She was brusque, but when she relaxed even a little she had wit and charm about her. He was definitely, he reflected, developing a bit of a crush.

Rahna had a way with biotics that made it look like she was dancing. No matter how she was addressed, she had that touch of self-possession that made it look like she acquiesced, not that she was forced or compelled. It had infuriated some of the guards. He had admired her for it.

"Sounds special," she said quietly.

"She was. Maybe she felt the same, but... training. You know."

Shepard nodded, "yeah." She hesitated, "so what was brain camp like?"

Kaiden realized he had already probably overplayed his hand. He had never told another human what had occurred on that station. Vakarian had asked him about it once. He had answered in short sentences, as honestly as he could. Vakarian had nodded, and they'd never spoken of it again. He wasn't sure he was ready for that yet. Instead of answering, he smiled gently, "It was... well... I had it better than some, I'm sure. Anyways, this was supposed to be a causal bull session. You should go grab a shower before we land. Commander said he's taking both of us."

Shepard stood, stretching her hands above her head. She shifted her shoulders, cracking her back. "You're right." She took a few steps and turned, not quite looking at him. "I haven't had a lot of friends. It's not something we ever got encouraged to do. We were supposed to be aggressive. Fight. Push each other. And the Pits... everyone I started to like died." She swallowed, "I want to know more about you if we're going to be fighting together." She added the last sentence sheepishly.

Nodding, Kaiden sensed some unspoken text. The only two biotics, the only two humans on the ground team, the only one who would be willing and able to back her up if she needed it. She was reaching for an ally.

"We could talk again later?" She said after a moment's hesitation, a question mark half hanging on the tail of it. She looked... curious, maybe even hopeful.

"I'll uh..." he hesitated, "I'll need some time to process that. But yeah," he nodded slowly, "I'd like that."

The corner of her mouth lifted ever so slightly. The expression was small, but it went all the way to her eyes. He glanced down at the mat, pushing himself to his feet. By the time her was up, she was gone.

He sat for a moment after she left. Looking at the doorway. Mara Shepard was a surprise and a mystery. If he were smart he'd leave well enough alone. He thought about that lost look on her face back on Gladius. The way she'd rallied and taken down that humongous Geth like a one woman army. She had a fire in her eyes, and it might be flickering, but it sure as hell wasn't out yet.

Kaiden put a hand on his forehead. If he were smart... well he'd never thought of himself as smart, anyways.

—-

Noveria had a crisp, clean, corporate feel to it. Nestled between snowy mountain peaks, the world was populated by people who probably hadn't ever seen a lick of blood.

"Noveria is a research facility joint owned by Salarians, and Turians, however there are members of any species here so stay on your guard. I don't expect to encounter massive resistance, but they won't welcome us with open arms either," Vakarian had said when he briefed them. "Kaiden and Shepard- there are humans in Port Hanshen. Learn anything you can from them. Liara, this is your mother. You said you wanted in so you'll be with me." He seemed to hesitate, meeting Decima's eyes. She shook her head slowly, but Vakarian kept going. "Wrex, I want you along as well. Tali and Decima will remain on board to coordinate communications and analyze any data we find."

Shepard and Kaiden walked just slightly behind The Commander and Liara. Vakarian's plan for the team wasn't too bad. If she had been in the Commander's shoes, she'd have done similarly. She and Wrex were the most unstable and unpredictable elements on the team. The Normandy was too important to risk them on board along with all of the hierarchy's secrets. No one trusted the crazy human, or the crazy Krogan.

By entrusting her to Kaiden and keeping Wrex with him, the Commander further minimaized the risk either of them would pose. Wrex had developed a soft spot for Liara and her presence would stabilize the Krogan more than Decima's presence would. Two Turians and a Krogan were a recipe for disaster. Tali was still running a slight fever from the Polonium rounds, and, though she insisted she was fine, could do just fine with a few more days to recover. Leaving Decima onboard left a firm hand in charge should anything happen.

Say what you wanted to about the Commander, he had a good head for strategy. Her thoughts were interrupted by a firm voice from the docks.

"That's far enough Commander."

The Commander paused, glancing at the two female turians. There was a single human standing, just slightly behind them. She was lit with a biotic corona. Shepard squinted at her face. There was a large and ugly turian claw mark running along the side of it. Who ever had aimed a swipe at her had just barely missed her eye. Turians didn't use their claws as weapons that often. Whoever had aimed at her had been trying to hurt her.

"I'm on important business," Vakarian said and started to move forward.

One of the Turians stepped forward and Shepard tensed, a hand open and ready to pull her side arm in a second. She had switched out her amp this morning, but using her biotics still felt risky. It always did after a fritzed amp. She'd wait till she really needed to before she reached for them.

"This is an unscheduled arrival," the first women said, "your credentials need to be verified."

Vakarian's mandibles flared in amusement, "easy, I have more than you."

"They'll be trouble ma'am," said the human woman. "Especially with two humans like that." The human woman studied her with a look of disgust, her eyes lingering for too long on Shepard for her to feel comfortable.

The Turian female gave a long and thoughtful hum, "I can't let you enter the port without confirming your identity. Stirling, secure their weapons."

The human stepped forward as all four of Vakaran's team prepared for fight. Wrex upholstered his shotgun. Liara and Kaiden flared. Shepard pulled her pistol. Vakarian's rifle was aimed just as quickly. Shepard hadn't seen him in combat enough to develop an opinion, but he seemed good at what he did.

"Don't try it," Wrex growled.

"We're authorized to use lethal force," the turian said, "you have till the count of three to surrender your weapons."She paused, then started a count down, "one, two-..."

"Captain Matsuo, stand down." The voice came from an intercom.

The turian woman made an abrupt a hand motion, and Stirling relaxed, bolstering her weapon. She kept her eyes trained on Shepard. Her expression of disgust didn't change.

"We confirmed their identity. SpecTRes are authorized to carry weapons here."

Vakarian motioned to the team and slowly, all of them relaxed. Shepard holstered her gun, not dropping eye contact with Stirling. She wasn't sure what the woman's problem was, but hatred like that... she had a feeling she'd find out soon enough.

"You're free to proceed," the turian woman said, "I hope the rest of your visit to Port Hanshen will be less confrontational."

Kaiden nudged her, "nice welcoming party."

Shepard chuckled. It was hard not to like the other biotic. She was in desperate need of allies aboard the Normandy. She could definitely do worse than the good smelling guy with nice eyes.

"Probably baking a cake for us as we speak. Streamers. The works," she commented wryly.

She was rewarded with a grin. She returned it, feeling something warm twist in her chest. She shifted uncomfortably and glanced around.

The stairs led up to foyer with some kind of fountain set up. Vakarian was by the counter talking to a woman there. The scarred human woman was standing up there as well, glaring.

"Yep," she added, "just lovely people."

Kaiden followed her gaze, "you okay?"

Shepard smiled weakly, "think it's the tattoos? Because she definitely does not like me."

"To be fair," Kaiden said, "she doesn't have the kind of face that says she likes anyone."

Vakarian headed into port and they followed, "Maybe, that's just her face. And you're being rude." She suggested, "I got tattoos, she got a bitch face."

Inside Port Hanshen proper it was muggy, but still clean and corporate feeling. It was a maze of durcrete barriers and fountains that projected a sense of art without actually being artful.

"You got the better deal," Kaiden murmured and she felt that same rush of feelings she wasn't quite ready to analyze.

She glanced at him, wide-eyed for a bare second and then hurried to keep up with the Commander. Was this friendly banter, or flirting. She wasn't accustomed to either. What was he expecting from her?

Vakarian was striding towards an office, Wrex and Liara close behind. He paused by the door. He turned and looked at Liara, studying her carefully. The doctor raised an eyebrow, "I imagine you want to talk to me about my mother."

Garrus tilted his head inquisitively, "are you too close to this?"

Shepard raised her eyebrows in surprise when the generally subdued Asari let her voice raise. She met the Commander's eyes scowling. "As I assured you before, Commander, my mother and I have not been in contact for many years. What I saw... if she's involved she needs to answer for it."

Garrus studied her another moment, "good enough for me."

The office they stepped into had the same cold concrete feel. They bypassed the reception area and headed for the back where a salarian sat behind a desk, studying a console.

"You'll excuse me if I don't stand up. I have much to do."

Shepard raised her eyebrows. In her time aboard the Normandy she hadn't seen very many people give such a curt greeting to Vakarian. She doubted he was much good at hearing no.

"You have a problem with SpecTRes?" Vakarian asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"Businesses come here to avoid the second guessing of galactic law. I'll cooperate only as required by the board." The Salarian had yet to glance up from his console.

"So I represent the second guessing of galactic law?" Vakarian asked.

Anoleis looked up for the first time, "just so we understand each other." He held up both hands. Then he blinked once, his features rearranging into a scowl, "I will not allow you to harass our client. This world is private property."

"You can answer some questions at least," Garrus said, "we're here for an Asari matriarch. Benezia. Know her?"

"She arrived here yesterday with a personal escort and some cargo. She is up at Peak 15." He went back to his console, typing something out as he carried on the conversation.

"Why? Know what she's doing here?"

Anoleis shook his head, a retrace of smile on his mouth, "if I knewI wouldn't be at liberty to say. She came here as Agent Saren's executor."

Liara looked at him sharply, "excuse me. His what?"

"Executor," Anoleis said, "Saren is a major shareholder in Binary Helix. she is authorized to act in his name. There were issues at Peak 15 that required immediate attention."

"Yeah," Wrex said, "We're going to need to see her." At the salarian's look at him he held up both hands, "just want to talk. For now."

"I'm afraid that's impossible. Peak 15 is a private facility. Regardless, there's a blizzard and access is cut off."The Salarian made a sound of frustration, "every moment of your dithering costs the company twelve credits. Need I keep a running tally?"

"Is Binary Helix developing weapons with Saren?" Vakarian asked.

Well, Shepard reflected, he certainly had all the subtlety of a dump truck crashing into a building. Personally, she would have waited on a question like that, kept their motives more of a secret. If you didn't know what all you needed to hide, there was a better chance of it being uncovered. She had spent most of her life getting what she wanted or needed by manipulating systems. She hadn't bludgeoned her way into Tantius's inner circle. Well, she had bludgeoned some people, but only the right ones. It took practice to know when you needed the right word in the right ear, and when you needed a good solid punch.

Anoleis only sighed, "It's possible given his interests, but as I have made perfectly clear, what our clients do in the labs is their business."

"Fine," Vakarian said, "for now, no more questions."

"Good. I have received a dozen urgent messages during this conversation."

They trooped towards the door. As they left the human woman behind the security desk stepped out, headed back towards the Salarian's office. She bumped into Shepard. "Out of my way," the human growled. Shepard bowed her head in apology and scurried after the Commander. She glanced at her hand covertly. There was a scrap of paper there.

_Lower bar. Come alone._

Shepard coughed, lifting her hand to cover her mouth.

"You okay?"

Shepard smiled, and swallowed the scrap. "Just fine."

—-

They needed a garage pass and no one wanted to give them one, that was the information the past hour of watching the Commander attempt to bludgeon his way through Noverian bureaucracy had yielded.. Garrus had taken Liara and, surprisingly Wrex, to the bar upstairs with no incident, but humans were barred from entering. It was the kind of place for the upper crust to brush shoulders and play their schemes out. Using a human for the scheming would be a kind of cheating, Shepard supposed. She wondered if Wrex would feel as out of place as she did.

Humans were supposed to be better liars than Turians. Shepard didn't know where Asari or Salarians fit into that scale. Maybe bringing a human along was cheating during whatever backstabbing game they were playing there. Either way, she was much happier at the lower bar. Most of the staff and customers here were workers around the port. Janitors, mechanics, security personnel, and the like.

Now, Shepard decided, she just needed a way to ditch Kaiden for a moment. Long enough to find out what this meeting was about. She could let him in on it, but something held her back. She didn't know Kaiden well enough to include him. Besides, she had stayed ahead in every other situation by always having another card up her sleeve. Secrets were part of how she had stayed alive this long. She kept an eye out for her contact, and took another sip of her water. If they passed through on the way back, she wanted to find a way to get some whiskey. Maybe enough to bring back onboard the Normandy.

"You've been quiet," Kaiden observed.

Shepard glanced at him and sipped at her water, "I'm always quiet." She paused, "this place is too clean."

"What do you mean?"

Shepard hesitated, "There's a lot of anger around here. Can't you feel it? All those people up there, " she gestured towards the ceiling indicating the bar proper, "are ready to eat each other's hearts out. They just do it without any blood. It's weird."

"I get that. I never liked political games either," he said.

Shepard tilted her head, "it's not that I don't know how to play them. But, in a place like this you have to be careful. Even here. Anyone would prefer a straight fight, but sometimes a little subterfuge gets things done."

Across the bar she saw the girl with scarred face walk in. For a moment their eyes met.

Shepard stood, "Excuse me. I need to use the head." She walked towards the restrooms and busied herself at one of the sinks, splashing some water on her face. She examined her reflection until she saw the door open in the mirror and a figure enter. It swished shut again and the lock blinked red, and then back to green. Shepard had no doubt it was jammed.

She turned around. The room was empty, the two stall doors gaping open. So they were alone then.

"You wanted to see me?" She said to the woman. Up close her face was even more hideous. Three pink and white lines of scar tissue ran from white forehead, all the way to chin. They were surrounded by more scar tissue from what Shepard assumed had been very rough sutures. Something like a burn scar started under her chin and disappeared under the armor. What was her name? Stirling?

Stirling's mouth twisted into a grimace, "not particularly, but I'm under orders."

"Whose orders."

The woman pulled out her Omni-tool, "you'll see."

Shepard tensed, expecting an attack.

"Oh calm down," Stirling said, "we all know you're the Turians little attack puppy. I'm not here to fight." She pressed a button, "_we _ are here with an offer."

A hologram appeared from her tool. The man was tall, with a prominent nose and shaggy black hair. She'd know him anywhere. She had seen him the day she had escaped the Pits.

"Nielson," she said, scowling.

He threw his arms wide, "Mara Shepard, I presume. One of the lost children of earth."

Shepard said nothing. He was smiling. He looked... happy. Welcoming. That was strange. Last time she had seen him she had been watching him as Saren murdered another Turian in front of him. This had all happened less than a few hundred yards away from a massacre of human slaves.

"Our reports say your current captor is a certain Garrus Vakarian." He looked at her expectantly. She tilted her head and watched him quietly, trying to connect the dots. Most humans wouldn't refer to her owner as a captor. A keeper or commander, maybe.

"This must be confusing for you," he said.

"You could say that," Shepard responded.

Nielson folded his arms, "I run a colony. A colony very sympathetic to survivors like you."

"Like me?" Shepard raised an eyebrow, "What does that mean?"

"The surviving Dometia encountered the worst of the Turians. They persevered and they survived. You survived. And now your fellow humans are calling for your aid." He nodded to himself, "your survival had costs. Costs to many who did not survive, Stirlings family among them."

Yeah, that explained the look. She must have been on one of the colony worlds captured by Dometia.

"And now," Shepard said, "you want payback? You're looking for a fight?"

"We want help. Not to fight. We want you to take what they taught you and use it to hurt them."

Shepard pursed her lips. "You murdered those humans on Gladius. What did they do to you? Reject an offer like this one?"

Nielson winced, then extended his hands, "I understand. There were more casualties there than I anticipated. Things spiraled out of control."

Shepard squinted, "do you think?"

"Please Shepard. I didn't know what the Geth were going to do. I didn't know what my colleagues were going to allow. It won't happen again. I promise. We want to help humans. We want to gain the power to strike back for the wrongs done to us. Surely there were some wrongs done to you, you might want some payback for."

Shepard took a breath. She didn't like him, but he seemed sincere. She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe in him. She had spent most of her youth believing Nielson had the power to hit the people who were hurting her. He could wound them, the way she was wounded. Around the berthing allotted for biotic Dometia they had spread rumors and stories about Nielson. About what the human resistance would do next. And now... now he wanted her help.

Payback. She liked the sound of it. It was an ugly feeling, but... for a moment every moment of pain and helplessness flashed through her memory. She remembered what Wrex had said to her.

_A pit varren on a leash _he had called her. Weak. Pathetic. Biting at any hand whether it was meant to help or hurt.

"What do you want me to do?" She asked.

"Nothing that will put you at too much risk," Nielson said, "you needn't worry. I know your have been programmed for years to obey direct orders from _them. _That's hard to break. What I need from you is more covert. It won't put anyone you work for in danger."

"I won't help Saren."

"I would never ask you to."

"I'll still fight you. Your people. All of it. I saw the beacon and I won't let it happen."

"Of course."

Shepard shook her head incredulously, "Then why on earth would you recruit me?"

Nielson hesitated, "you saw the beacon," he said as if were obvious, "you of all people should know what's at stake. In the end, you'll see it. I know you will. For now... I need Vakarian's resources to help our people. And I need to know if you're in. We don't have much more time."

Shepard glanced up at the ceiling.

"Who do you want to pay back, Shepard. I'm certain I can give you the opportunity. We can find Argus. We can make him pay."

Shepard's fists clenched. For a moment she felt like she might drown in the rage and she understood why people called Dometia crazy.

She looked back at the hologram, "Send me the data. I'll do it."

"Thank you Shepard. You can't know how much help you'll be."

the hologram flickered off and she was back to looking at Stirling. Stirling was scowling. It seemed to be her only expression.

"I don't agree with him. I think your kind are dangerous and unstable. I saw what people like you did."

Shepard sighed, "I figured." She shook her head, searching for words.

"I'll still kill you if I get the chance."

"I don't intend on dying anytime soon," Shepard said, "but I need to go. It's already been too long. Open the door."

Stirling tapped on her Omni-tool and the door swished open. Kaiden beckoned her over. "Vakarian figured something out. He needs our help getting into an office," he shrugged, "you ready?"

Shepard nodded, "let's go."


	11. Deals

There were bugs in his brain.

At least that's what it felt like. Nielson stepped off the holo device and walked to his desk. He had, he knew, made some terrible mistakes over the last few weeks. He simply couldn't place his finger on which ones they were. The feelingg consisted of skittering ideas that vanished the second he tried to grasp them more fully.

Right now even speaking to Mara Shepard, much less choosing to include her in the work felt like a horrible error in judgement. That didn't seem right either when he examined it. He had fought for years to discover what had happened to those lost surviving children in New York. He had successfully smuggled dozens of them to safety. Shepard had, by complete luck, managed to end up somewhere were she could help the work more than anyone had before-if her trust could be gained.

And yet… and yet his instincts were screaming that this was wrong. Perhaps the work itself was flawed. What did it matter anyways, in the face of matters of galactic extinction? The lives of humans, turian, even Asari were short compared to the creatures he now served. What did a miserable existence for a few humans matter when trillions of lives depended on three individuals? Didn't the fate of the fews need to be subjugated to the needs of the many?

He fought against the thought. Human survival mattered. Human freedom mattered. He had spent more years of his life fighting for the existence of his tiny colony, for the establishment of the rebellion, his great work, then he had lived before the war had ever started. How could he be doubting the worth of it now.

Bugs. Bugs that shook everything he had ever knew and when he tried to examine them skittered out of his reach. He didn't have much left of whatever motivations he had started with, he knew. His ability to control the rebellion was fading fast.

Luckily, he hadn't created the rebellion to die with him. It's leadership was a secret within a secret. He could surrender leadership at any time and the rebellion would carry on. Perhaps he should. Whatever deal with the devil he had made, it was time to pay up. He needed to ensure the cost would be to him alone.

There were no other options, Saren and Benezia had both assured him. It turned his stomach to work so closely with the enemy, but in the face of galactic sized threats, treaties were necessary and Saren had promised him their bid to outwit the Reapers would result in fewer human casualties from now on. Benezia had agreed as well, what had happened was unavoidable. They would work harder in the future to prevent unnecessary deaths.

Nielson was skeptical. Whenever the three of them met on Saren's ship it was like there were other voices whispering among the conversation. More bugs. He had wanted to meet somewhere else, to try to outdistance the voices, but the turian rarely left his ship these days unless he was running a mission.

Neilson typed his codes into a console and prepared to surrender control of his most important work. The Rebellion would live on, even if Terra Nova fell. He needed to ensure it. His hand hovered above the console. He should do this. It was the right decision. He was slipping, and he knew it. He had built the rebellion, though, however complex it might be now. He didn't want to give it up completely.

He withdrew his hand. It wasn't time yet. When it was he would know. In the meantime he would lessen his involvement. Be careful about what information he fed through.

All he really had to worry about was the colony. Well… that and the survival of every human in the galaxy. He could keep a few bugs at bay until he figured out how to save them.

* * *

Catlin Stirling had had about enough of the rebellion's bullshit instructions. Wasn't it enough that she had seen everyone she had ever loved slaughtered or sold? Now she had to work with the culprit. Maybe they had been turian puppets, but she would have died before she let the birds do that to her. Nielson called them survivors, Stirling remembered the screams of her youngest sister and called them damned traitors.

The destruction of rebel colonies had happened relatively quickly, largely in part to the human children who would enter towns. They would be injured, tattooed, hungry. In tears, they would claim to have escaped their captors and beg for shelter. What human heart wouldn't soften at one of the lost children finally come home? And then the defenses would drop, more of the children would troop in, this time bringing destruction. The slavers would follow. And then the slaughter and the whips and the cages. With communication lines long since cut, it was impossible to send out warnings. By the time the pattern had emerged, it was too late.

After watching the two humans leave the bar she settled herself into a chair by the window, looking out across the picturesque landscape. Visibility was low. On a clear day you could see all the way to the Skaldi mountains, their peaks covered with lights from labs and research facilities. Today though, barely a few feet out the landscaping vanished into ice and wind and snow. The storm had it's own savage beauty though, and Stirling took comfort in it.

No, she didn't agree with the Rebellion on this, dealing with Shepard was dealing with the devil. Nevertheless, what the rebellion wanted, the rebellion got. They were the ones who had smuggled her out of a decidedly terrible situation in a mining camp on Menae. They had offered her a chance to flee to the Terminus systems, she could have gone straight to New Terra Nova itself, but she had opted for this instead. She felt like she could do some good out here, and she had. Here on Noveria she stayed with Mistae, a turian who spent her free time protesting for human rights and worked for a fair salary as security personnel. She and Mistae had both been running covert missions for the rebellion here and there for half a decade.

They had never asked her to do anything she felt so strongly against until now. Dometia were traitors to their own species who had haunted her nightmares since they had destroyed her home. She didn't relish the idea of recruiting one. But here she was. Not that they were on the same side. The human had made it clear she was loyal only as far as her own revenge extended, hadn't she?

Her communicator beeped and she pressed the button to receive the incoming call. The picture was blurred for anonymity but the voice was the same one she was used to hearing.

"Did you do it?"

"It's done. Unfortunately."

There was a sigh, "c'mon Stirling, we went through this already. She's as much a victim as you are."

Stirling let out a sigh of discontent, "I know, I know what you said, I remember."

"Try not to kill her. Or get yourself killed. They're about to put you on her trail."

"No promises."

There was no response, just a long static sigh and an end to the transmission. Her communicator beeped again almost immediately. Stirling accepted the call.

It was Mistae, "there's a disturbance up in those offices we cleared out yesterday. Probably someone just heard a noise and got spooked but… Want to go check it out?"

Stirling stood up, "I'm on it."

"Be careful."

"I'm always careful."

"Mmhmm." Mistae chuckled. The communication cut out. "I'm a little worried about those visitors. I'm sending back-up, just keep anyone you find busy till they get there."

Like most Turians involved with the rebellion, Mistae was kept on the outskirts. She knew enough to do what was required of her, but kept as insulated as possible from anything that could hurt the organisation. No names. No significant places. Mission objectives that mostly amounted to go hear and put that there. Wire credits to this account.

Mistae had been involved for years, and had earned a certain amount of trust, but it wasn't the same as if she were human.

Stirling checked her clip in the elevator and activated her barriers. Ready then. The door swung open.

She stepped carefully into the office space. This floor had been sealed off based on some internal drama within the company. Stirling hadn't exactly followed the details, but until the investigation was complete, no one was supposed to be here.

So that didn't explain why Mara Shepard was leaning against a balcony, watching the entrance. When she saw Stirling her lips pressed into a straight thin line. She pressed a hand to her ear and said a few words, then nodded. Notifying that bird she followed around most likely.

She waited and Mara met her on the ground floor.

"Didn't think I'd get to make good on my promise so soon," Stirling said as the Dometia approached. She flared a smile crossing her features as the biotic corona surrounded her.

Shepard walked towards her warily, "it doesn't have to end like this Stirling. You can still walk away."

"Walk away?" Stirling chuckled, "never."

"I don't want to fight," Shepard said

They circled each other a moment. Stirling struck first, pulling her pistol and aiming three quick shots. They bounced off of Shepard's shields like gnats. Shepard crouched and rolled beneath Stirling's next attack- a ball of biotic energy0 then rose and dashed towards her. Her fist pulled back already glowing for a biotic punch.

Stirling dodged out of the way, but Shepard had anticipated that. Shepard pivoted quickly knocking her arm hard enough that the pistol went clattering across the ground. And aiming another, less strong punch that Stirling caught and blocked. For a moment they were locked together, inches away from each other. The air was blue and crackling with electricity.

"Bet a lot of your victims didn't want to fight," Stirling growled.

She twisted throwing Shepard to the ground.

"Are you alright Shepard?" Someone called from the balcony.

"I can hold," Shepard called back, leaping to her feet.

It occurred to Stirling that the other woman was holding back, toying with her. She had let herself be overpowered and thrown.

Stirling glanced up, "what are they doing up there?"

"Nothing that affects us." Shepard glanced behind her at the elevator and pressed a hand to her communicator. "They've got back up coming," she said to whoever was above.

Stirling felt a spike of fury. How dare this woman play some twisted cat and mouse with her. She lept at the pistol, still laying on the ground s few feet Shepard's feet.

Shepard's kick caught her in the belly and she went rolling. Pushing herself to her hands and knees she retched.

"Stupid move, Stirling." Shepard snarled. The elevator doors flooded open and Shepard cursed. She grabbed Stirling armor and pressed her against a wall she was using for cover as gunshots cracked around them.

Stirling realized that the backup Mistae had called was running past them at someone on the upper level. She tried to say something, but Shepard pressed her into the pillar harder. She let out a pathetic sounding strangled grunt. "I'm trying to save your life," Shepard said in her ear. "Now go down easy."

Stirling let out a grunt, "No." She sent a biotic shockwave rippled across the floor sending Shepard reeling back. Stirling faced her down a bare second and then launched herself into a charge. Hand to hand it was hard to beat Dometia, but she might be able to win in a game of biotics.

Shepard was better though, and faster, she caught Stirling mid charge sending her into the ground. The Dometia knelt over her, one hand pulled upward, in a painful threat that her arm could be snapped.

Stirling realized just how calmly and easily she had been put down. "C'mon Stirling," she said, "we can be on the same side. Just play dead." Her voice was just barely a whisper. Stirling had the feeling she was hiding whatever she was saying from the other people on her comm link.

Heart thudding in her chest, Stirling realized she was going to die here in an office block on Noveria and barely anyone would notice. She tried to surge towards again the hand holding her down tightened. Agony sang through her arm.

"Goddamnit," Shepard snarled. A hand grabbed the back of her neck.

_This is it, _ was all Stirling had time to think. _I really don't want to die._ Pain exploded behind one of her eyes and the world went dark.

When she blinked back into consciousness she was looking up into Mistae's concerned face. "Easy there," she said as Stirling tried to sit up, "you took a nasty blow to the head." There was blood dripping from her forehead.

"She let me live," Stirling muttered leaning her head back on the floor.

Mistae shook her head, "I heard what you tried to do." She pushed Stirling's shoulder's back gently, "Just lay back and wait for the medical team to get there."

The room spun wildly, and Stirling let out a moan of pain.

"Stupid idiot," Mistae said, a note of affection in her sub-vocals. She grunted, "at least one of you has the sense to know who the enemy is."

Stirling let out a laugh, "I'm alive," she said, "I'm alive."

* * *

Shepard let out a sigh. Whatever the Commander was doing in Anoleis' office was taking quite a lot longer than she expected it to. Luckily she had managed to shake Kaiden for a while. He had gone with the Commander into the corporate office, leaving her outside.

Just a few seconds later a message had appeared on her omni-tool.

_Got your contact info from our mutual friend. She's fine, thanks to you. Confirm biometrics and we'll talk._

Shepard's heart pounded. So this was it. Answer and she was an official traitor. No way out. She took a deep breath and sent her confirmation along. It was ironic, half a decade ago she would have rather turned a rifle on herself then disobeyed a single order. Now she was part of an active rebellion.

There was a long pause.

_Confirm safe to talk._

She glanced at the door to the corporate office. She was lounging far enough away that as long as she stayed alert she'd be able to cut off comms before she was noticed.

_Confirmed_

There was a light buzzing in her earpiece and then a voice.

"Thanks for not killing one of our operatives. Stirling's an asshole, but she's a useful asshole."

Shepard blinked. "I- what?"

"This is Jacob. Jacob Taylor. Welcome to the rebellion Shepard."

Glancing att he door again, Shepard forced herself to look away. She was going to make herself look suspicious. "Didn't think names were going to be involved," she said quietly, "can you be traced."

"Don't worry," Jacob said, "we've got a genius comm specialist. No one will pick anything up. As far as names go, we need you to trust us and we don't have a lot of time to earn it."

"What do you want me to do? Why me?"

"You're not the first Dometia we've recruited. We know you're people have had a hard run of it and we want to help."

"Help how?" Shepard narrowed her eyes. "I'm not putting myself in danger for-"

"Hold that thought," Jacob interrupted, "if you're in danger we're pulling you out. Immediately. If it were up to me, we'd already be in position to get you out of there."

"I don't need rescuing."

"We'll talk about it later," Jacob said, "for now, heads up. I'll stay on channel."

Shepard glanced over in time to see Liara walking over. She nodded to the Asari and crossed her arms over her chest. More head stuff? More prothean stuff? She looked apprehensive.

Liara nodded towards the door, "Is he still in there?"

Shepard nodded, "didn't realize getting a garage pass would involve so much politicking," she grumbled.

"Me either," Liara pinched her forehead, "I wanted a chance to speak with you, however."

Raising an eyebrow, Shepard glanced at her.

"I've never worked with a human before. I'm not much used to being around anyone else," Liara admitted, "I spend a lot of time alone at dig sites. Not so much time exploring the galaxy or helping with my mother's work."

"Is that Matriarch Benezia's daughter?" Jacob murmured in her ear, "Benezia's on our side."

"What kind of work does your mother do?" Shepard asked.

"She was outspoken with the council about the treatment of your people. She especially advocated for the Dometia. Whatever she's done, there was a point where she cared." Liara shook her head, "I don't know if that matters to you."

Shepard looked up sharply, "It does," She hesitated, looking at Liara's face. "I'm not used to working on a team like this either," she said. If Benezia was on their side a gentle nudge in the right direction might sway Liara. However this mission turned out having a rich Asari on their side couldn't hurt.

"I believe," said Liara slowly, "I've made some grave errors in judgement. You saved my life, and I haven't done a good job of paying you back." She hesitated, "we don't have to be friends if that's not what… If you need my help, at least know that you have it." She held out a hand then cleared her throat uncomfortably, "I did some research. This how humans make deals, yes?"

Shepard reached out a hand and shook on it.


	12. Rescues

_Hey, sorry for the pause in posting pace. My life is a little bit crazy, and I've been working through some complications. Hopefully I'll be getting back up to speed for the next few weeks._

* * *

**2173**

**BAaT Facility**

_Kaiden bent double, gasping in pain as the turian punched him hard in the gut. The other two grabbed his arms straightening him up to face the next blow. He thrashed and reached instinctively for his biotics, but his attempts only made the pain from the locking collar on his neck worse. His knees buckled as he took the next blow._

_He groaned and probed a loose feeling tooth with his tongue. The turian who had been administering the beating grabbed his upper arm, claws digging into his bicep and he bit back a cry of pain as blood dripped from the wounds. He barely registered being thrown to the ground, or the booted foot drawing back for a kick. He tried to curl into a ball, but when the kick made contact it sent him sprawling backwards._

_Ever since that whole mess with Vyrnnus the turians in charge had been getting in thier blows where they could. They had locked him in this cell after the incident and he hadn't left since. It had been three days and they had barely fed him. _

_He wasn't hungry anyways. He barely felt thirst. When they had locked him in here he had spent the first hours staring at the wall trying to figure out he had gotten here, replaying the incident over and over in his mind. Eventually, dull resignation had taken over. He was going to die in this cell._

_The turian's next kick hit home and he did his best to curl back up, protecting his head from the blows. He shut out the jeers of the turians and tried to remember what it was like before his father had died and his world had been relatively normal. All of this abuse could only be leading to one thing, he knew. He didn't have much longer._

_"What's going on here?"_

_The hits let up and he forced himself to swim up through the agony to see the speaker. His eyes refused to focus for a moment, but when they did he could see a strange turian watching. He still wasn't used to the strange disppasionate way they looked at everything. The guards who had been beating him had snapped to attention._

_"Commander we-…"_

_"Any reason you're beating the crap out a of this kid," the newcomer asked._

_The youngest guard took a step forward and Kaiden flinched backwards, "he's the one Commander Vakarian," the turian said, "he killed Vyrnnus."_

_The door to his cell was still open and the turian stepped through, examining each jailor in turn. Finally the turian examined him. He rolled to his stomach and pushed himself to his knees, ignoring the pain that seemed to be possessing every single inch of his body. A hand reached out and he glanced up at the turian, "think you can stand?" Kaiden ignored the hand and pushed himself up, growling with pain and effort._

_When he managed to get himself mostly upright-he had one hand on a wall to steady himself- he met Commander Vakarian's eyes, jaw clenched. If this was where he met his end, he intended to do it with courage. The Commander examined him a moment, then nodded and stepped back. "Do you know why I cam here?" he asked._

_The question was not directed at Kaiden. One of the higher ranking turians, Kaiden recognized him as one of Vyrnnus's buddies._

_"We heard you came to investigate the murder and decide what's to be done with the kid who did it." _

_He was standing just a few feet from Kaiden and managed to flick out an arm shoving him forward Already unsteady on his feet, Kaiden pitched forward with a cry. In a few swift moments the Commander stepped forward, steadying him and then gently tucking Kaiden behind him. "You'll leave the kid alone," he snarled, stepping forward. "I've been reviewing records all morning and all I can say is some sick turians who couldn't maintain control of a few human kids without beating them."_

_Kaiden blinked, wondering if he understood correctly. This turian was… on his side? He pressed his back to the bars, using them to hold his battered body up. _

_"You're a bunch of cowards, and whoever promoted you shamed himself," the Commander sneered, "now get out of my sight."_

_One by one the guards walked out of the room. The Commander turned, studied him again. "I saw the tape," he said after a moment, "that was quite the kick."_

_Kaiden said nothing._

_"Did you mean to do it?"_

_Kaiden shook his head hard, "no sir. I just wanted him to stop."_

_The Commander tilted his head, "but could you do it again, if you were in a fight?" _

_"I- I think so."_

_The turian nodded, then reached out a hand. Kaiden flinched back. The turian remained still, "I'm not going to hurt you, kid. Can you walk. I'm taking you to medbay."_

_Kaiden ignored the hand and tried to take a step. His legs buckled almost immediately. Vakarian was there in a moment, one arm wrapping around him, "alright, steady now."_

_Kaiden tried to yank away from the touch, but the turian held tight, "don't fall flat on your ass because you're too tough to let a turian help you." _

_Slowly, one step at a time the Commander guided him out of the jail_.

* * *

**2182**

**Noveria**

Inside the Mako, it was warm with everyone crammed in. The vehicle hadn't been built for this many and it took some negotiation to find the best way to fit everyone. Shepard had taken the gunner position, folding her legs up to leave room for Kaiden and Wrex. Liara was up front next to Vakarian. During the commotion of the Geth firefight in the garage, Shepard had managed to quietly told Jacob she needed him quiet so she didn't give herself away. He had closed the channel, leaving her contact details. "Remember," he had said before he had cut off, "any chance you're in danger and we pull you out. Just send up the SOS."

He had been obviously reluctant to leave her to her own devices. She wasn't sure if it was because he was genuinely concerned for her wellfare, or if it had to do with the Rebellion's need for her to remain where she was aboard the Normandy and establish a rapport with the Commander. Which was better? That he didn't trust her self preservation, or that he didn't trust her to do her job?

On the other hand, the thought that she could make an exit whenever she wished was comforting, but foreign. The last time she had hoped for rescue she had been a child in the hold of Tantius's ship. She had seen her father die, but somehow for weeks, she had clung to the hope that he would come rescue her. Still, she wanted to trust this rebellion more than she had wanted to trust anything in a long time. One step at a time. Jacob wanted the Matriarch alive, if possible, but understood her position. SHe could maybe pacify him if she kept a good relationship with Liara. Taht meant keeping her alive.

"So", said the Commander, interrupting her train of thought, as he pulled them out of the garage and into the storm, "was anyone really surprised that the mysterious luggage the Matriarch was hauling along was actually just Geth."

"Personally," Kaiden said. "I never go anywhere without my killer robot."

Shepard chuckled as she peered through the scope. She had learned over years of training to abandon all but the mission. "I'm just glad we get to shoot more of the flashlight heads." She squinted, "Commander, what's your visibility like up there? I've got maybe a few dozen meters at best."

"Don't worry Shepard, I'll get you in close."

Shepard snorted, "You're gonna have to, keep us off this cliff."

"Cliff?" Vakarian asked, "what cliff?"

Liara blanched, "what?"

"I can drive," Wrex volunteered, "doesn't look much different from a Tomkah."

"Kidding," the Commander said, "kidding. I can drive."

"Mmmhmm," Kaiden said, "remember last time. You're lucky we got Shepard on board to fix her up from that boulder you just about slammed us into."

"Is that what happened?" Shepard asked, "better not ruin all my hard work, sir."

"Don't worry Shepard, she's in capable hands," Vakarian assured her.

Shepard grunted, then hid a chuckle as Kaiden turned around wavering his hand to indicate 'so-so', then winked at her.

"I'd hate to interrupt," Liara said, "but I'm picking up something on the scanners about hundred meters ahead. It's stationary. A guard turret, maybe?"

SHepard squinted, a light was coming toward them. "Recommend evasive driving," she called. "I'm working on a firing solution." Her fingers tapped quickly on the panel as she tried to lock onto a target she couldn't see while Garrus tried to swerve them out of the way. There was a jolt as the missile dinged the right side of their shields. Shepard grabbed the handle welded into the roof bracing herself with one hand while she reached with the other towards the machine gun. She fired off a few round blindly as the computer tried to find a signal to hone in on. She'd need to increase the sensitivity later on, but once she had a solution she slammed the firing button and watched a gratifying shower of sparks through the scope. It should be possible to increase the sensitivity to heat signals. That should solve the problem she was having now.

"Nice shot," Vakarian called.

The rest of the trip up the mountain was similar. The blizzard had chased off any real security besides the auto defense turrets and those were pretty weak targets. Shepard found herself hoping they tested the Mako against something bigger and tougher at some liekd gunning on this thing, and with a few adjustments she could make it work even better. She could already see how. This Commander was something else, but it felt good to be able to be part of a combat team again. She fell into the banter easily, pausing only to focus on lining up her machine gun, or to find a firing solution.

"Nice shooting," Garrus called as the last turret exploded in sparks.

"Give me something harder to hit."

They rounded a corner and entered the covered bridge, "How about some Geth?" Vakarian asked.

Shepard glanced through the scope. Her fingers danced across the console. A second later she could hear the metallic creaking metal being smashed. "Are you running these things over?" she called up, "I'm gonna be scraping Geth out of the wheels for days."

"Kill them before we get closer and I'll try and dodge."

The terseness of the reply told her the Commander was focusing pretty hard on getting them through the blizzard. She focused on sighting the Geth ahead, already planning updates to the Mako's heat sensors.

It took her a few moments to realize, for the first time in a long while, she was having fun.

It was almost a disappointment when they arrived at the peak and had to hop out of the Mako. Vakarian grunted as they looked at the building. The entire front part appeared to have been ransacked. The chill wind bit through Shepard's armor and she shivered. The Commander looked worse. "Cold?" Wrex asked.

The Commander shivered and grunted, "thanks for your concern, but I'm fine Wrex."

The inside of the building was mess with desks thrown haphazardly around the room. Broken glass littered the snow and crunched underneath their boots. The group spread out slightly, trying to cover the angles of the area.

"I don't see any Geth around here," Wrex commented.

"But a very large mess," Liara said.

Shepard put a hand on her sidearm, the metal comforting against her fingers. Something about this open space seemed perfect for an ambush, though she couldn't see where anything could attack from. Vakarian seemed to sense it to. He held up a hand silencing them. Something creaked from one of the ventilation ducts.

Shepard glanced around, saw the metal grate lifting and shouted, pulling her sidearm as her barrier shot up instinctively in a shimmering corona. Something shot out in a blur of brown and red. It let out an unholy shriek that sent Shepard reeling backwards a few steps. One hand rising to cover her ears even as she jerkily aimed and fired a shot at the…bug thing.

It spat a wad of something at her and let out another shriek. The spit, or whatever it was landed harmlessly against her barrier. A few splatters hit a nearby desk. It sizzled. Good to know. Avoid the bug spit.

She heard more shrieks coming from other corners of the room and fired another few shots into the one she was facing. It reeled backwards and she took the moment to glance at Liara out of the corner of her eye. The alliance between her and Liara was tentative, but if they were in this heavy of combat a few steps into Peak 15 someone should be looking out for the least experienced one there. Better it was her, than a turian.

She needn't have worried. Liara lifted a desk and chair and sent it biotically hurtling towards one of the creatures, before reaching for her sidearm. Shepard sidestepped closer to the biotic plotting a route to her as she sent another few rounds into the bug thing.

She had an inkling about what it was. Tantius had mentioned it a few times to her. A war, something about the Krogan. He had enjoyed pontificating history lessons, but she had never been a particularly good student of them. It had exasperated him at first, but once she kept winning him battles he had started viewing it as a forgiveable quirk.

"Shepard!"She heard the call, over the comms, "watch your six."

She turned in time to catch sight of another of the creatures behind her. She ducked and tryed to roll out of the way, but as it reared back and let out a scream she knew it was too late and she was too far from cover. Out in the open and hopelessly esposed, she'd never manage a dodfe. She tracked the acid headed towards her too late to even throw up a barrier.

Something solid slammed into her, sending her rolling across the snow. She heard Vakarian grunting in pain and leapt to her feet, running towards the sound. The turian's armor was sizzling and warped from the acid and he was rubbing the exposed portion of his cowl desperately. It had missed his face but caught him in the middle of the shoulder.

There were gunshots from behind her, and she heard the beasts screaming in agony. She glanced around in time to see Kaiden, Liara, and Wrex form a tight back to back knot. "We're covering you, Shepard," Wrex called and she jogged to where Vakarian lay on the ground. He was just getting to his feet.

"I'm fine," the commander gritted out. His jaw was clenached and his madibles were pulled in tightly. Shepard glanced at his armor, "sure," she said skeptically. She pushed him into the snow,forcing him to roll. He grumbled, but seemed to catch on to the concept. When he came back up she pressed more snow onto the burns on his cowl, trying to flush out any acid that migth remain before she sealed the wound with gel. She hadn't administered first aid to many turians and she had no idea what kind of side effects there might be from the acid. Whens he was satisfied she had the wound as clean as possible, she ripped open the packet of medigel. It wasn't deep, but it looked unpleasant.

Vakarian hissed when she applied the medigel to his damaged plates, but didn't fight her. There was a slight tremor in her hands this close to him, and she wasn't sure if she needed another dose of the Dust, or if she was just unused to being so close to a turian without it being an attack on her person. She hadn't performed first aid on many turians. Mostly they told her 'go kill it' and then she trotted back when she had done it. She could count the number of turians she had actually fought beside on one hand.

It didn't matter. She needed the Commander alive. Jacob had made it very clear having her stationed aboard this vessel, with this Commander was important. Focus on the mission, and think about it later. That was the only kind of philosophy she needed right now.

"It just winged me," Vakarian panted, though the medi-gel was obviously providing him with some relief. He was shivering against the cold. Hopefully further in there would be, at least shelter from the wind.

She stood and glanced around. Six of the carcasses were lying around. Wrex was scowling at one, nudging it with one toe. Liara and Kaiden were investigating the rest of the vents, ensuring they weren't about to receive more unwelcome visitors. Shepard glanced back down at the Commander. She reached out a hand, helping him to his feet. She wanted to ask him why he had taken that hit for her, but instead she just glanced at his shoulder. "You should put some omni-gel on that," she said. The ceramic had warped and bubbled under the acid, but it appeared she had gotten most of it off before it had time to penetrate.

If she had taken the hit, it wouldn't have been a graze. She would have taken a major hit, right to the chest and face. Even with a helmet and full armor she might not have made it. They were far from decent medical care.

Vakarian patted her on the shoulder, answering her unspoken question as if reading her thoughts, "you're part of the team, Shepard."

He brushed by her and joined the others around the body of one of the larger beasts.

After a moment she followed. She reached into the pouch at her belt and gulped back a pill. The doc hadn't been keen on giving her a surplus, but had acknowledged the necessity. She should make sure to return some back to him, to keep his trust.

It was little early for her dose, but the shiver of biotic power down her spine studied her nerves and banished any thought except to find the next battle.

It was better that way.


	13. The Children You Thought Silenced

Jacob rolled over on the cot he had set up in the comms room and groaned when the console buzzed. Still, this was par for the course with the newer contacts, especially dometia. He had handled three of them before and all of them had called at odd hours for the first few days. He figured it had to do with believing there wasn't ever a rescue coming and then someone threw a rope. He had been caught by surprise the first couple times, running from the barracks while he pulled on shirt, now he set up a comfy corner in the communications hub and waited for her to make contact. He stood, stretched and walked over to the console.

Slapping the button to receive the comm, he slid on the headset. The GPS connected to Shepard's omni-tool was still showing the Noverian mountains. "Shepard," he said.

There was a long silence on the other end before she spoke, "you were asleep." It wasn't a question. Her voice was low, but he doubted there were others around. One of the perks of working with Dometia was their natural caution. No one had to explain what could happen, they had already seen the worst of it. They were sneaky when they wanted to be and damned near impossible to kill. You just had to know how to talk to them.

He wouldn't trade this for handling the highly placed human servants in the world. He liked their edge.

"Sorry to wake you," she said.

"Doesn't matter," he said, "it's late here. You alone?" He glanced over and hit the brew button on the coffeemaker. They hadn't had a supply run from Illium in a while, but he had stocked up on coffee last time and they were nearly due.

"Obviously," there was a note of mockery in her voice and he smiled. "found some civilians that aren't dead," she continued, "We're gathering up supplies before we head onwards. I'm guarding the perimeter right now. Half these guys haven't slept in days," She hesitated, "there's a Krogan with us. He says it's Rachni." It wasn't a particularly decent hour on Noveria either, but she was probably used to operating on little or no sleep.

Jacob pulled the transmissions from her omnitool back up on his screen. "Best we can tell, he's right," he said simply.

"Aren't they extinct?"

He sighed, "unfortunately, your guess is as good as mine."

"I thought you guys were the experts," Shepard scoffed.

Jacob chuckled and reached over to the coffee pot, "on how to create a sizeable network of spies and sabateours in the turian hierarchy. Not giant bugs."

There was a long pause, "What's it like out there?" She wisely didn't ask for a location. It was an abstract question. Jacob took a sip of coffee and made a face. He preferred cream, but they had run out weeks ago and sugar was carefully rationed in between supply shipments. Still, coffee was better than stims any day. "There's a lot of us here," he finally, "we're all crammed together but it gets to feel like family. Food's pretty good."

She chuckled, "you a soldier Jacob?"

"Yup. A biotic, like you."

She made a thoughtful sound, "you from earth?"

"Colony kid. Dad moved out to the Terminus systems during the war, then went to go hunt the birds. We never heard from him." She wasn't interested in him exactly, she was interested in the rebellion. If she were anything like the other contacts he had been responsible for, she wanted to know who was really in charge. She had been raised with a strict chain of command, and her first instinct was to find out who was running the show.

Nielson had been clear, she would be suspicious of him. They hadn't met on friendly terms the first time. That was why she had been assigned to him personally, and to his cell over any other. He had been working far from New Terra Nova for years, and had less contact with the colony than any other. Working shipboard tended to be isolating, but he had loved it from the first time his first flight. He had been young and as naive as they came and equated it to being a pirate. He thought about how to phrase the answer to her unspoken questions, "I've only spoken to Nielson a few times," he said finally, "the cell I work for is led by someone else. He presided over a few earth battles."

"No names," she said quickly, "nothing specific."

"I'm no rookie," he responded.

She chuckled, then fell silent. He waited for the next question, "you ever pulled anyone out before. For real?"

"I've managed three operatives. We pulled two out successfully."

"The third?"

Jacob took a breath, "he got cornered. Put a bullet in his own head before he let them take him alive. I still think I could have gotten him out. We were right behind them." The memory still stung. He had taken a few weeks off after, nearly quit. Eventually though, he had decided there were other people who needed someone on the other end of the phone line.

He could almost hear the calculator in her brain working, adding up her own odds. For a moment he thought she might disconnect and lose his info, "I think our chances would be good with you," he said quietly, "Vakarian makes a lot of stops on the citadel. He gives you a pretty long leash. We'd just pick you up and go from there."

"What would you do with me?"

Jacob set the empty cup of coffee on his desk, "that'd be up to you. Right now, we need more of your people, the lost kids from New York. There are more of you still out there than anyone realized."

Another pause, "are you trying to put together another army? Assuming that I'm not one of only a handful of survivors," she said, primly, "we've all done that before. I don't want to play lapdog to some narcissist."

"We need leaders," he said, "leaders who have seen combat and who know how the turians fight. How they think."

Shepard grunted, "I doubt anyone would follow us."

"I would," he said honestly, "and I don't think I'm the only one."

Another long, long silence. "Besides," he said, "Think how poetic it would be. The lost children leading the army that reclaims our place in the galaxy. Maybe even Earth itself." He left off that thier numbers were too small right now. Nielson said he was wotking a plan to bring more allies to the cause, but as of yet there were just a few of them.

"Earth," she mused, "I barely remember it."

"Never been, myself."

"I only saw it after they came," she said. Then, "I don't know if I can save Benezia," she said, switching topics abruptly. Jacob grunted. That was less than ideal. Benezia was a strong ally. An important one.

"A lot of people died here, Jacob. Innocent people. The commander's not happy. I don't like it either. Whatever they signed on for, it wasn't this." That was the thing about the lost children, having thier experiences most of them picked one of two roads; either they lived to inflict violence whereever they could, or they lived to stop it however they could.

"Do what you have to do," he said, "we've got more missions we're ready to send your way."

"Like?"

"One thing at a time Shepard," he said, "send me a report and I'll send you more errands to run. If you can't save the Matriarch, at least keep an eye out for her daughter. Someone from her family has pull with the counsel. That can't hurt."

"And the other thing? Nielson made me a promise."

He breathed a chuckle, "we're working on the best way to take him down," he glanced down at his file on her, where it lay open on the desk, even though he had already memorized it. "Can I ask? He wasn't the guy who abducted you, who-"

"Why do I want him more than Tantius?"

"Yeah." It was the only thing about her that didn't seem to add up to him. If it were him, he's want the guy who had put him in the situation in the first place. Why waste time on the few rabid dogs that existed in the world when you could bring a whole system down?

"All that shit Tantius did," she said after a moment, "it all made me stronger. We were just tools, but he… sometimes it felt-…" she sighed, obviously frustrated with her own inability to express it. "He called us his children," she said finally, softly. Her voice hardened again, "Argus treated us like toys he wanted to break." A sharp edge entered her voice, "and now I want to break him."

"Don't worry," he said, "we'll get you your shot."

"Good," a note of finality entered her voice, "we'll be moving out soon. I should go."

He nodded and glanced at his cot. With the cafienne, sleep was probably out. Maybe he'd squeeze in a workout. "I'll be here when you've got more news." He hesitated, "you're in good hands Shepard."

"He's definitely not the worst turian I've met."

Jacob smiled, "I meant mine."

There was another long pause. Then the line disconnected. Jacob nodded and leaned back. So she didn't trust him yet. There was time for him to earn it.

* * *

The Asari Matriarch stood silhouetted against the glass of the enclosure. Slowly she sank to the ground, leaving a streak of blood along the glass. Vakarian glanced over and at his squad. Shepard was a few steps behind him. She stopped beside an asari breathing her last, bending to ease her passing with a knife she pulled from her belt.

Liara was a step behind her and Kaiden was charging up the ramp. Wrex had taken the final blow to the matriarch, hitting her with a fantastic headbutt before putting a bullet in her amount of violence one Krogan could inflict on a squad of asari commandos was truly impressive. Shepard too, she was quickly proving her usefulness in combat simultaneously sending some truly impressive attacks, while still covering Liara.

"This is not over," Benezia said, voice thick, "Saren is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear."

Shepard walked up beside him and scoffed, "I expected better from Asari commandos."

He shot her a sharp look and she raised an eyebrow, then shrugged backing up to lean against the railing behind them and crossing her arms. She had been quiet all day. They had stopped for a brief rest, but he had seen her leave berthing before he had even had a chance to get some shut eye. She hadn't returned. Maybe he had been overworking her taking her on a mission so soon. He'd make it a point to give her a break in the next few days. He looked back at Benezia,

"I will not betray him. You will-… You-…" She looked down panting, and when she looked up something in her eyes had changed. They had seemed preternaturally blue before, now they were darker.

As if spurred onward by the change in her tone Liara Surged forward. Garrus held up hand, but Shepard was faster, expecting it and grabbing her by the arm. "She was ready to kill us all a few minutes ago," he heard the human hiss. Liara gave a half hearted struggle, then relaxed. Shepard relaxed to, but kept a close eye on the young asari.

"You must listen," Benezia's voice was slow, each word an internal war. "Saren still whispers in my mind. I can fight his compulsion, but the indoctrination is strong."

"Are you saying he brainwashed you?" Garrus asked quizzacally. It was difficult to imagine anyone taking down an asari, much less and asari matriarch, with some mind games.

Benezia shook her head and looked down at the pool of purple blood that growing beneath her rapidly, "people are not themseves around Saren. You come to idolize him. Worship him. You would do anything for him." He keyed up a dose of medi-gel but she shook her head letharigically. "The key is Sovereign, his flagship. It is a dreadnaught of incredible strength and it's power is extrordinary." She took a ragged breath, "I am not myself, I never will be again. It is a terror to be trapped in your own mind. To beat upon the glass as your hands murder and torture." She took another ragged breath, "I was powerless. But a tool for Saren." Once again Liara surged forward in his periphial. Shepard caught her again, whispering another sharp word of caution.

"He sent me here to find the location of Mu relay. It's location was lost thousands of years ago."

Garrus hummed, tilted his head and studied the matriarch. For a woman who claimed to be a thrall she seemed remarkably self possessed, even mortally wounded. "You found it?" he asked.

"Two thosand years ago," the matriarch said, "the rachni inhabited that region of the galaxy. They discovered the relay. Queens share knowledge between generations. They inherit the knowledge from their mothers."

He saw Wrex edge closer to Shepard fromt the corner of his eye, "Rachni," the Krogan muttered, a note of excitement in his voice, "I told you."

Benezia looked away, "I took the knowledge from the queen's mind. I…was not gentle."

Shepard scoffed. Garrus felt a stab of shame. He had tried to force her through something similar. He brushed the feeling aside, he needed to focus on the problem at hand, "make this right, Benezia. Give me the information."

"I was not myself," the matriarch said, "but I should have been stronger." She looked behind him met, the eyes of Shepard and Kaiden in turn, "I am sorry for bringing your people into this. Your kind have more than enough sorrow."

"Looks like we're about to have more," Kaiden said. Shepard was silent.

Benezia sighed heavily, "I've transcribed the information onto an OSD. Take it, please."With enormous effort she pushed herself against the glass, standing unsteadily and stumbling to a computer, one hand still pressed to her abdomen. She pressed a series of buttons and the disk popped out of the console. Garrus took it and looked at it.

Liara stepped forward, more slowly this time, "Mother, knowing the relay's location is not enough. Where did Saren plan to go from there?"

Benezia shook her head, "Saren wouldn't tell me the information, but you most find out quickly. I transferred the data to him before you arrived." SHe leaned on the console, head down and eyes closed, "you must stop…me. I can't-…" she let out a groan of effort, "his teeth are at my ear. Fingers on my spine. You should…you should…"

Liara was suddenly beside him, "mother! Don't leave. Fight him!"

Through gritted teeth Benezia spoke again, "you've always made me proud Liara." She pushed herself up, with a surge of strength, biotics bursting to light, "die!" the asari declared.

Kaiden and Shepard were both ready. He had missed whatever whispered plans they had made while he conversed with Benezia. Kaiden lay down a stasis, freezing her in place and Shepard lept forward, pulling a combat knife from her belt she slammed her shoulder into the matriach and drove the knife up through her ribs.

She took a step back pulling a pistol as Benezia sank to the ground. She glanced at Garrus waiting for an order. The matriarch held up a hand. "No more," She said, "I can not go on," she stopped, blood trickling from her mouth. Her voice grew faint and Shepard glanced at him again. He shook his head slightly. The matriarch was past being a danger. She made eye contact not with him, he realized with Shepard, "it's up to you now," she said. Garrus had a feeling she wasn't talking about Saren. It was only at the last she looked at Garrus, "you'll have to stop him."

Her eyes fluttered shut a moment, then opened. Liara finally free, surged forward, kneeling beside her mother. "Medigel," she said firmly, "we need to get you… we need-"

Benezia shook her head slowly, placing a hand on her daughters knee. "I am not myself," she said, "I never will be again."

Liara shook her head, "mother…"

"Good night little wing," Benezia said softly, "I will see you again with the dawn." Liara shook her head mutely, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"No light," Beneza murmurered eyes clouding with confusion as she slipped away, Liara stroked her head gently, "They always said there would be a-…" she stopped, eye unfocused as she let out a last gasp. Tears were running down Liara's face. Shepard glanced at Garrus, a look of discomfort on her face. It was Kaiden who went to the young Asari and helped her up and away from the body. She leaned into his shoulder and he guided her away from the motionless body of the asari matriarch.

Shepard stepped forward, pistol still drawn, glancing down at the body. She shook her head, and expression of dissapointment plain on her face. "What a waste," he heard her mutter.

She glanced around and holstered her pistol. The chamber was empty, nothing but them, the bodies of the dead asari, and a few crumpled Geth. Or so he thought until Wrex pointed a finger at the glass. "Hey Garrus," he said, "there's something still here."

The glass was frosted with condensation and he had to wipe it away to get a good look. The creature inside was massive in size and the cage far too small. It hunkered as if to get to corner of the glass cube, away from him. A frightened animal. It was insect like, but he knew intelligence when he saw it in the eyes of a creature. It was observing him keenly.

All he heard behind him was the click of of four guns being pulled from thier holsters. When he whirled one of the asari was standing. Her face was pale blue, contrasting starkly with the purple tattoos, and her eyes wide and unseeing. The asari stumbled forward, as if tripping over her own body. She a step towards him, then another, feet sliding along the floor. He pulled his own gun, "that's far enough," he said, voice flanging with a warning.

The Asari paused a moment, then as if controlled by strings attached to her limbs she walked around him to stand in front of the glass, by what couldnt be anything other than the Rachni queen. Her lips moved, humming for a moment before speaking slowly in monotone.

"This one serves as our voice. We can not sing. Not in these low spaces. Your musics are colorless."

"How are you alive?" he said after a moemnt of flabbergasted surprise.

Wrex shrugged, "could have sworn I snapped her neck."

"This vessel is at an edge. Yet she struggles," he glanced at the team. Wrex was still glaring suspisciosly, but Shepard's eyebrows were nearly at her forehead. Kaiden and Liara both still looked quizzical. "You can not see her magnificance. We are breathing on the embers." There was a low hum of amazement barely discernable in her voice. The asari stopped speaking for a moment and when she spoke again Garrus knew he was listening to the voice of a species long thought to be gone forever.

"We are the mother," the rachni queen said, "we speak for those left behind. The children you thought silenced. We are Rachni."

"You're their leader?" he questioned.

The asari spoke again, he words flowing faster as the rachni seemed to understand the language better as time went on, "the children we birthed were stolen from us before they could learn to sing. They are lost to silence." There was a heaviness to the monotone, a sorrow he could name but was too deep to quantify, "End their suffering. They can not be saved. They will only cause harm as they are."

"Wait," Shepard said, stepping forward and frowning as she lowered her gun to the floor, "why are your children killing people."

"These needle men," the queen said, bitterness replacing sorrow, "they stole our eggs from us. They sought to turn our children into beasts of war. Claws with no songs of their own. Our elders are comfortable with silence," the queen moved forward within the cage and it seemed her attention had shifted onto her, "Children know only fear if no one sings to them. You know this."

There was a long pause and he saw Shepard give a faint nod. Kaiden made the same gesture.

"Fear has shattered their minds," the rachni said angerily.

"A child needs community," Kaiden agreed, "family."

Garrus looked at the queen for a long time. She was beautiful in a way, the light glinting off her thorax and the razer sharp glint of her appendages. In battle she would be fierce to face, he had no doubt, though now she cowered like a beaten varren. Creatures that majestic should be downed in battle or left alone entirely. Stuffing one in cage struck him as wrong and horribly cruel. She was adapted to destroy anything in her way, to create new rachni warriors and conquer. Her kind had menaced the galaxy, she was perfectly adapted for it. On the other hand, he couldn't leave mad dogs to menace this place. If she was a threat…

By all rights this shouldn't be his decision. This was a choice for the council, but clearly the choice wouldn't wait. He suddenly desperately missed the days of floating any decision he didn't want to make to someone else. Let them decide if the rachni and her children lived or died.

"Alright," he said finally, "if you're sure, but I doubt they'll give us a choice," he added.

"It is lamentable…but necessary. Before you deal with our children," the rachni queen said, "we stand before you." And there it was, the choice he knew would come. Would the Rachni live or fade back into extinction with none the wiser? "What will you sing?" the Rachni Queen asked, "Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more?"

Wrex nodded to the top of the cage where three tanks sat, "there are acid tanks rigged on that thing. Set them off. Millions of my ancestors died to bring those things down. Don't let them come back." He bit off every word of the last sentence. Shepard straightened suddenly and holstered her pistol. Her jaw was set firmly, her spine stiff as a board.

"What's the matter, Wrex," she drawled, "maybe if there were millions of them I could understand, but there aren't. Just her." She motioned towards the cage, "You can't be scared of just the one."

"It's not fear to want to bring down an old foe," the battlemaster snarled, stepping towards her. Surprisingly, Shepard stepped forward, meeting the Krogan's eye, challenging him.

"She's in a tank," Kaiden said slowly, "and you're wanting to dissolve her with acid."

Shepard glared, "I have to agree. It doesn't seem very sporting." She didn't take her eyes off the Krogan. There was a long silence where Garrus wondered if he was going to have to break up a fight between them, but the Krogan shook his head slowly and relaxed. "You've got a quad, human," he said icily, but not without a touch of respect as he turned his attention back to the creature.

"She's done nothing to us," Liara added, somewhat uncertainly, "do we really need to bring one more death." For second her eyes were on Benezia's unmoving body. Kaiden put a hand on her shoulder and she looked at him gratefully.

Wrex scoffed, "you didn't notice all the rachni on the way up here trying to kill us?"

Garrus hummed thoughtfully, "they were a threat to the galaxy," he said, "this is a chance to end it." The creature in the tank trembled.

"Do turians ever not have a scorched earth philosophy?" Shepard questioned. She had sidled up beside him while he had been musing and was studying the creature. "She's terrified and enslaved and she's been tortured and now you want to- what? Melt her?" Her brow furrowed, "they took her children."

"Your companions speak the truth," the Rachni said, there was a lift to the asri's head a low note of defiance though her voice was still monotone, "you have the power to free us or return our people to the silence of memory."

"I know you humans weren't here yet," Garrus said, "but her people nearly destroyed the galaxy. She could-…" Shepard glared at him stubbornly, having obviously made up her mind about what she would do.

"Were you even going to bother to ask?" Liara asked.

It was… a fair point. Garrus turned back to the glass, "would you go back to war?" he asked.

"No!" it was nearly a shout, "We…I do not know what happened in the war. We only heard discordance. Songs the color of oily shadows." She hesitated, "we would seek a hidden place to teach our children harmony. If they understood, perhaps we would return."

When Shepard spoke next it wasn't to him. She looked at the creature head tilted, "how did you survive last time?"

"We do not know, motherless one," the rachni queen said gently, "we were only an egg. Hearing mother cry in our dreams. A tone from space hushed all noises. It forced the singers to resonate with it's sour yellow note." She paused, considering her voice heavy with sorrow, "then we awoke in this place. The last remnant of those who came out of the singing planet. The sky is silent."

Shepard walked to the glass, no longer looking at the asari. Slowly she put a hand on it her too many fingers spread wide. The rachni queen reached out an appendage, through the glass they touched hands. Motherless one, the rachni queen, stripped of her children, had called her. Every ounce of military training he had told him he should eliminate this threat. Spirits, but he was a terrible turian.

Shepard turned from the glass, looked at him, challenging him.

He let out a long sigh. He was going to regret this some day, he just knew it. He walked to the console, glanced at it. "I won't eliminate an entire species. You're free to go."

There was a pause and the rachni queen's voice was full of wonder when she spoke again, "then you will let us compose anew? We will remember. We will sing of your forgiveness to our children."

Garrus only gave her the barest of nods as he bent to the console. The cage lifted and opened. The Rachni glanced back only once and not at him. Shepard watched it go, meeting the Rachni's glance with an expression he couldn't quite parse. She turned and walked back to where the rest of the team stood, pausing briefly beside him. "Thanks," she muttered without looking for him. She didn't wait for a response.


End file.
